Sanchez Plans 3,000-Home Master-Planned Community in Bonham

Bonham, a quiet Fannin County town better known for its frontier history than major development, is bracing for its biggest growth spurt yet.

A 400-acre site near State Highways 121 and 56 is set to become Powder Creek Ranch, the town’s first master-planned community and a 3,000-home bet on North Texas’ continued sprawl, 70 miles away from downtown Dallas.

Dallas-based Sanchez & Associates will complete the project in seven phases through 2035, according to a press release. The mix mirrors what’s driving demand across the region: single-family homes, townhomes, build-to-rent units and multifamily units, backed by a commercial spine of retail, dining and office space, the Dallas Business Journal reported. Parks, trails and open green networks aim to keep the development knitted to Bonham’s small-town character.

Infrastructure design is already underway for the 73-acre first phase, which will break ground in late 2026. That opening tranche will include 205 single-family homes and 350 BTR units, with rents between $1,200 and $2,200. Zillow puts Bonham’s average home value at about $227,300, roughly $30,000 below that of Sherman and less than half of McKinney and Frisco.

That affordability, coupled with surging job hubs in Sherman and northern Collin County, has accelerated Bonham’s appeal to younger buyers and renters priced out of Dallas’ inner ring. Commute times remain manageable, a quality of life advantage as traffic thickens along the region’s major corridors.

“With the tech boom happening in nearby Grayson County and continued growth into northern Collin County, Bonham continues to see increased attention from developers and employers,” William Myers, the city’s economic development director, told the Business Journal.

The Bonham City Council approved its first public improvement district last fall to help finance infrastructure for the decade-long buildout. Sanchez & Associates CEO J. Martin Sanchez told the outlet that the project aims to honor the city’s heritage while meeting the needs of “future residents seeking attainable housing in the North Texas growth corridor.”

Bonham, a town of roughly 10,500 residents, is one of Texas’ oldest settlements. The town harkens back to an 1837 frontier blockhouse known as Fort Inglish. The Powder Creek Ranch site itself was part of a 1960s ranch owned by Joe Kirkpatrick, a World War II veteran and founder of Cisco Boots — history that Sanchez says will influence the community’s design.

— Eric Weilbacher