Inside the I-35W boom: 20,000 homes reshape corridor north of Fort Worth

Tens of thousands of new homes, sprawling retail centers and competing grocery stores are reshaping the roughly 15-mile stretch of Interstate 35W between Tarrant County and Denton. Longtime residents of small towns like Justin, Argyle and Northlake are watching pastures give way to master-planned subdivisions in one of the nation’s fastest-growing regions.

Here are key takeaways:

• Roughly 20,000 homes are planned along I-35W from Denton to Flower Mound, and work began this month on Cole Ranch, a 4,365-home, 3,100-acre community valued at $5 billion with home sales expected to begin in late 2027.
• Hillwood unveiled Landmark, a 3,200-acre development with 6,000 homes, 3,000 apartments and 900 acres of commercial space in southern Denton County, with model homes for the first 747-home phase opening in the spring.
• Argyle signed an agreement with R.Y. Properties to build Heritage, a 123-acre retail development at Robson Ranch Road and I-35W anchored by an innovative medical services hub and projected to generate $127 million in sales tax revenue.
• Hines and partners are developing Furst Ranch, a 1,300-home master-planned community with prices from $800,000 to over $2.5 million across three neighborhoods between Flower Mound, Bartonville and Argyle.
• Luxury builder Tradition Homes broke ground in the High Plains neighborhood of Furst Ranch with homes starting at $1.2 million in the Argyle school district, with a next phase planned for the Cross Timbers neighborhood in 2028 on one- and two-acre lots.
• Denton will join Frisco as one of the only Metroplex communities with two H-E-B stores, as the grocer plans to begin construction on a 119,000-square-foot store at 2210 W. University Drive in spring 2026.
• Justin’s population jumped more than 50% between 2011 and 2021 and demographers expect it to roughly double by 2030, straining infrastructure as the city tries to balance growth with preservation of its rural character.
• Denton’s population of 169,431 is projected to reach 229,192 by 2040, according to the Denton 2040 Comprehensive Plan, fueling demand along the I-35W corridor.
• The Argyle retail project sits near a future H-E-B and is drawing interest from big-box retailers like Target, Costco or Lowe’s, with construction starting next year and retailers arriving in 2027.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.

This story was originally published June 30, 2026 at 3:30 PM.