Dubai Developer Scraps Sustainable City Plan in North Texas

A vision for a sprawling AI-enabled sustainable city east of Dallas quietly died on the vine.

Dubai-based SEE Holding scrapped plans for a roughly 2,300-acre mixed-use development in Kaufman County that promised a blend of housing, tech and green infrastructure. The project — dubbed Sustainable City USA — never made it past early planning, with no land acquisitions completed, the Dallas Morning News reported.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden confirmed Thursday that the proposal is no longer moving forward. Representatives for the developer declined to comment.

The project had generated outsized attention relative to its early-stage status, fueled by social media speculation and comparisons to other controversial North Texas master plans. Paxton amplified that scrutiny last month, launching an investigation and framing the development as a “potentially unlawful ‘Sharia city,’” despite assurances from developers that no mosque was planned, according to the publication.

The proposed site spanned land near Farm to Market Road 1836, County Road 146 and State Highway 243 in southeastern Kaufman County. Plans called for a mix of apartments, townhomes and senior housing, though unit counts were never disclosed.

SEE Holding pitched the development as a next-generation live-work environment, with integrated commercial space, clean energy infrastructure and walkable neighborhoods designed to reduce commuting and emissions. The firm said in planning documents that the project would support jobs across construction, engineering, technology and community services, while catering to remote workers, startups and small businesses.

The Kaufman County proposal would have dwarfed SEE Holding’s existing portfolio. Its largest completed project — in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates — spans about 161 acres, a fraction of the Texas proposal, according to the outlet.

The cancellation of the project comes about a month after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity launched an investigation into EPIC Real Properties and Community Capital Partners over potential violations of the Fair Housing Act, including alleged religious and national origin discrimination tied to The Meadow, formerly branded as EPIC City. EPIC stands for the East Plano Islamic Center.

That planned 402-acre Islamic-centered community northeast of Dallas would bring more than 1,000 homes, a K-12 faith-based school, mosque, senior housing, apartments, retail and sports fields across land in Collin and Hunt counties, roughly 40 miles from downtown Dallas. Last year the developers drew scrutiny and investigations from Paxton’s office as well as the U.S. Department of Justice.

— Eric Weilbacher