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Dallas

Mehrdad Moayedi developing 1,100 acres in Terrell

Centurion American bought the Las Lomas tract in late 2021

Centurion American’s Las Lomas project has finally sprouted legs.

Mehrdad Moayedi’s Farmers Branch-based firm bought 1,100 acres of land off Interstate 20 in Terrell, about 30 miles outside of Dallas, late last year. It was the company’s third such land buy in Kaufman County that year. Now, the Dallas Business Journal reports, at least eight phases of development are planned for this tract.

The latest documents filed with the City of Terrell’s Planning and Zoning Commission show a request to develop a project called Arboretum Estates by Centurion American. Plans call for 2,390 single family homes on 584 acres, 35 acres of multifamily, 177 acres of industrial, 84 acres of retail or light industrial, 18 acres for school or civic purposes, 18 acres as an active open space and amenity center and 136 acres of undevelopable land that will be used as open space and a nature preserve.

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At the time of the 2021 purchase, broker Rex Glendenning called the area an “up-and-coming industrial hub.” That was a year after Centurion American acquired the 1,350-acre Cartwright Ranch in Crandall, where it announced plans for approximately 4,000 homes. This planning and zoning case is the first official step toward development for any of these tracts.

Between his purchase of the Cartwright Ranch in 2020 and finalizing his plans for Arboretum Estates, Moayedi has spent some time in the courts, battling a class-action lawsuit and a citation for failure to pay school taxes. On top of that, Hollis Greenlaw, who formerly owned a private jet with Moayedi, was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for running an alleged Ponzi scheme through her company, United Development Funding.

Investor Kyle Bass, who made about $30 million shorting Greenlaw’s firm, recently embarked on a rural land play himself. His new investment firm Conservation Equity Management has spent the last year buying up six rural properties totaling 37,000 acres worth more than $90 million.

— Maddy Sperling

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RanchesRural Land