Houses are becoming more grandiose in Grand Prairie these days.

At a time when building permits for single-family homes have fallen to 10-year lows in the city, Grand Prairie's newest properties near Joe Pool Lake are flourishing like never before. It's helped create a tax base that is helping the city through these tough economic times.

City officials attribute the increase in new home values to a unified development code that sets minimum standards. The City Council passed the ordinance five years ago and is now reaping the benefits. Since 2002, the average price of a single-family home being built in Grand Prairie has increased 67 percent, from $139,050 to $232,172.

It's a combination of having the right restrictions at the right time and having a lakeside location for prime real estate, said Kevin Lasher, Grand Prairie's chief city planner.

Other cities have taken notice. Similar restrictions have been studied or enacted in Mansfield, Midlothian and Arlington in an effort to boost home values.

Grand Prairie's code places restrictions on what types of homes are built in the city. For example, two-story homes must have 80 percent of their exterior walls made of masonry or stone.

Twenty percent of homes in a subdivision must be a minimum of 1,800 square feet, while the rest have to be 2,000 square feet or larger.

When Grand Prairie leaders began looking into requirements for new homes and commercial buildings, they had to take into account Grand Prairie's history and its potential.

At the time, houses built during the post-World War II boom and into the 1960s and 1970s for manufacturing workers were aging.

"Those homes were built almost overnight," Mayor Charles England said. "They're just box homes. We've got a whole town full of them. I say that not in a bad way, but it holds the value of the homes down."

New growth in the city was moving south toward undeveloped land near Joe Pool Lake, where unprecedented development was about to take place. Grand Prairie wanted to harness that growth and attract upscale development in the process.

"This was our last chance to get high residential comparable to the Planos and Friscos," Mr. Lasher said.

City planners and council members examined homes in Grapevine, Colleyville and Southlake. Those upper-class, two-story stone homes would be the prototype for homes in the Grand Prairie area known as the Peninsula.

"What we wanted was the Emeril Lagasse philosophy – you know, let's kick it up a notch," city manager Tom Hart said.

Not only did Grand Prairie kick it up a notch, but so did the developers, who brought classy homes and high-end commercial and retail. Some of the homes are valued at as much as $600,000, according to the Tarrant Appraisal District.

But not every homebuilder got in on the action, Mr. Lasher said. Some builders who do starter homes for first-time buyers were pushed out, he said. The city wanted houses for people wanting to sell a smaller, older home for a larger, more expensive new one.

"We were creating regulations for that kind of market," Mr. Lasher said. "Most of the developers like that."

Midlothian has been working to attract high-quality development just as long as Grand Prairie has. Midlothian's City Council examines every planned development to see that minimum requirements are set.

City Manager Don Hastings said Midlothian's new home values have increased from the low $100,000s to about $200,000 in just six years.

"It all goes back to the constitutional right of American cities to define what they want to be when they grow up," Mr. Hastings said.

The higher price of the houses, which in turn creates more property tax revenue, has allowed Grand Prairie to update old infrastructure and add more police and fire protection. It has also helped the city survive the recent turbulent economy. And it creates aesthetically appealing homes that have lasting quality, the city manager said.

"What we want is when that subdivision is 10 years old, we still want it to be a quality subdivision that holds its value," Mr. Hart said.

"If you're going to build in Grand Prairie, now it's going to be done at a higher standard."

By JON NIELSEN / The Dallas Morning News
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