Inside Hillwood’s $4B Bet on Celina’s Future

From 1,200 feet above Celina, the scale of Hillwood’s new $4 billion Ramble community comes into focus. Last week, CandysDirt.com toured the developer’s 1,380-acre master-planned community aboard Hillwood’s corporate helicopter, getting a firsthand look at the project that will eventually bring more than 4,200 homes to one of the fastest-growing corners of Collin County.

From the air, crews could be seen moving dirt across rolling terrain as builders worked to finish spec homes across a development centered around trails, gathering spaces, and what Hillwood describes as “slow living.”

In a part of North Texas where master-planned communities have become standard, developers are increasingly competing on lifestyle branding as much as location or amenities. Hillwood is betting that buyers in northern Collin County want something that feels slower, greener, and more connected to nature — even as explosive residential growth continues surrounding Celina.

That philosophy shapes nearly every part of Ramble by Hillwood, located at 2287 Preston Rd., north of downtown Celina. Hillwood executives said the community’s name comes from the definition “to walk for pleasure without a defined route,” an idea reflected in the project’s winding trail system, preserved open space, lakes, and nature-focused amenity design.

“At Ramble, when you walk out of your home, that’s your trailhead,” said Huawei Yin, Hillwood vice president and project manager for Ramble.

More than 200 acres are planned for greenbelts, parks, lakes, and open space, including a seven-mile trail system designed to connect neighborhoods to more than 86 miles of existing trails within Celina’s park system. The 10-foot-wide trails within the community will be open to Ramble and the surrounding neighborhoods.

“From the start of this project, we have worked side-by-side with our neighbors in Celina to deliver a nature-focused community that fits naturally into their backyard,” said Fred Balda, President of Hillwood Communities.

The community will ultimately be developed in six phases, with buildout projected near 2045. The first phase includes 600 homesites from builders American Legend Homes, Coventry Homes, Drees Custom Homes, Highland Homes, and Perry Homes. Several model homes are already finished and open for tours. (Stay tuned for a detailed walkthrough of Ramble’s model homes.)

Homesites range from 40-foot lots to one-acre properties, with move-in ready homes starting in the mid-$400,000s and extending beyond $1 million.

The emphasis on outdoor connection and gathering spaces appears throughout the development.

At the center of the future amenity package is the Turtle Club, a “National Parks”-inspired clubhouse scheduled to open in spring 2027. Hillwood representatives said the design draws from early 20th-century dogtrot-style homes and lodge-style architecture with exposed beams and heavy masonry materials.

The turtle theme carries throughout the branding and amenity design. A turtle mascot named Happy symbolizes the community’s “slow living” philosophy, while turtle-inspired elements appear in playgrounds and gathering spaces.

Even the Turtle Club’s infinity pool was intentionally designed around how people naturally gather.

Executives said the amenity team observed that residents tend to congregate around the edges of pools rather than inside them, leading designers to create additional perimeter gathering areas instead of a traditional rectangular pool design.

Other planned amenities include an 18-acre recreational lake with a fishing pier and picnic areas, sport courts for pickleball, basketball, and soccer, wooded trails, event lawns, and a biergarten anchored by an authentic silo repurposed from the original ranch property.

One of the more distinctive features is the future Ramble Coffee House by 1418 Coffee along Preston Road, which repurposes an existing ranch home into a neighborhood coffee destination.

Hillwood incorporates gathering places like the coffee house as a “third place” — a social gathering space separate from home and work designed to encourage spontaneous interaction among residents.

The project also leans heavily into family-oriented infrastructure.

Two future elementary school sites are planned within the development, along with a Montessori daycare concept. During the tour, Hillwood spokesperson Kurt Watkins noted that the first elementary school is expected to open in 2027 — ahead of much of the housing development itself.

Ramble sits roughly one mile south of Celina High School within Celina ISD, one of the fastest-growing school districts in North Texas.

Hillwood officially opened the community Thursday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. First residents are expected later this year.

The project marks Hillwood’s fourth master-planned development in Celina.