Painted Tree in McKinney Update: Rental Homes Added, Goats Clear Underbrush. Wait — Goats?

The Painted Tree residential community under development in McKinney continues to … well, develop.

The past week, Avanta Residential, a Denver-based that focuses on single-family rentals, announced that it has purchased 27 acres within Painted Tree to develop a build-to-rent neighborhood of 276 homes and townhomes.

Homebuyers have always considered single-home rentals as options as costs for single-family homes and rent for apartments have surged. But rent is not immune to price increases.

A recent CoreLogic report finds that single-family rental homes have risen by more than 11 percent in the past year while a Zillow report shows Dallas-Fort Worth average apartment rents were up 12.4 percent year-over-year.

The Avanta project announcement at least means additional choices. It is the first rental development to be part of Painted Tree, which is a project of Dallas-based Oxland Advisors and New York-based JEN Partners.

The Avanta community will include a leasing center, club room, fitness center, covered outdoor great room, yoga lawn, and swimming pool with poolside cabanas. Residents will also have access to green space, pocket parks, and electric vehicle charging stations. Construction is set to start in November with the first homes available in mid-2023.

“With this acquisition, Avanta continues its focus to work with best-in-class master-planned community developers and top-tier land developers in the U.S.,” Avanta President Jim Dobbie said in a statement.

Tom Woliver, Oxland Group co-president, said his firm is excited to have Avanta as part of the Painted Tree master plan.

“Avanta brings a well-designed program that aligns with the Painted Tree vision of providing a wide range of housing options and a high level of amenities that today’s consumer is demanding,” Woliver said in the same statement.

Painted Tree was introduced in October 2020 by the Oxland Group as a 3,400-home, 1,100-acre development with homes starting near $300,000s.

In June, Oxland Group announced that it was adding an additional 25 miles of paths and trails. In July, Oxland announced that 1,200 of its residential homesites will be delivered in the project’s first phase with a projected opening in 2022. Also, the city of McKinney announced that it was purchasing 230 acres for a public park.

But what about the goats?

Woliver found a unique way to clearing land by releasing 100 goats onto an 11.5-acre parcel of Painted Tree land to clear thick underbrush in June. Woliver regarded the move as the project’s official groundbreaking.

“There’s no way better way to have a minimal impact than bringing in goats to do the hard work,” Woliver said. “This is our ceremonial groundbreaking. So, in lieu of suits and gold shovels, we’re here with about 100 goats.”