For $131M, this private Texas lake could be yours

For $131 million, you could own one of Texas’ largest private lakes. 

Hortenstine Ranch Company listed a 5,700-acre property that includes the 2,000-acre Lake Monticello as well as a 66-acre trophy bass lake. The property offers 17 miles of lake frontage and is located near Mount Pleasant, a town of 16,000 located about two hours east of downtown Dallas. The property straddles Titus and Franklin counties. 

Cash McWhorter, a partner and broker at Hortenstine, called the property “a masterpiece” that stands out not only in Texas, but nationally as well. 

The Texas Utilities Electric Company started building the Lake Monticello dam in 1971. Waters from Blundell and Smith creeks created the lake, which was used as a cooling reservoir for the former Monticello power plant. The plant closed in 2018.  

The waters warmed by the plant made it a hotspot for fishing. While the plant no longer warms the water of Lake Monticello, it’s still a popular spot for outdoor recreation. 

Hortenstine Ranch Company is a Dallas-based brokerage that specializes in water-centric real estate. The brokerage was also behind the sale of Fairfield Lake, the former site of Fairfield Lake State Park. 

The sale of that property ignited a bitter public feud between the buyer, Dallas developer Shawn Todd’s Todd Interests, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which tried to seize the property through eminent domain the day after Todd Interests purchased it. The state dropped its plans in December. Todd plans to develop the land into a $1 billion luxury subdivision.   

The Fairfield Lake property comprises 5,000 acres, including the 1,800-acre lake. The Lake Monticello property is about the same size. 

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