A housing development in a small town near Fort Worth, Texas, didn't settle for a typical, serene-sounding name such as Quiet Meadows or Creekside Estates. It gave a shoutout to the beloved local school district.
Landsea Homes just launched sales at a community called Pirate Village in Granbury, about 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth. It’s a nod to the Granbury Independent School District, whose mascot is a pirate.
Texas custom builder and developer Steve Hawkins, who sold Landsea the 72 lots in Granbury earlier this year, named the community. While Granbury is nowhere near the ocean, the maritime tie-in made sense because the development sits on a lake, Hawkins said in an interview.
People passionate about Granbury schools showed up earlier this month at the Pirate Village grand opening, according to Will Grimes, vice president of sales and marketing for Landsea's Dallas-Fort Worth division.
“One woman told me, ‘I feel like when I drop off my kids, I’m dropping them off in a Hallmark movie,’” Grimes said in an interview. “They are like evangelists for that school system, and I’m not overstating it.”
Granbury, a town of about 12,000 residents, is the county seat of Hood County, Texas. Pirate Village is near the city’s quaint downtown square that features 19th-century architecture.
Texas ties began in 2021
Landsea moved its corporate headquarters from California to Dallas two years ago after entering the Texas market in 2021. It created a Dallas-Fort Worth division after acquiring Antares Homes last year. In addition to Texas, Landsea has built homes in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Arizona, Colorado, Florida and California.
This week, Landsea and New Home Co. of Irvine California jointly announced a $1.2 billion deal in which New Home would acquire Landsea. The acquisition would make the combined company a private entity and one of the 25-largest U.S. homebuilders, the companies said.
At Pirate Village, Landsea offers 10 floor plans, and prices start at about $320,000. As with all of Landsea's new homes, this development is part of a program that incorporates energy efficiency, home automation, sustainability and healthy living. Landsea partners with Apple and Best Buy Geek Squad to offer such home automation features as entry door locks, thermostat control and doorbell camera from one mobile app, the homebuilder said.
"While it’s certainly a unique name for a neighborhood, we see it as a reflection of the strong pride and identity our community has built around Granbury ISD," Ryan Cox, the district's director of communications, said in an email. "It’s always meaningful to see local businesses and developers recognize the role our schools play in shaping the fabric of the community."
The district serves nearly 8,000 students across 10 schools. It consistently outperforms the state average with a 95% graduation rate, and U.S. News and World Report cited Granbury High as one of the top schools in the state and nation for college and career readiness, Cox noted.
There's no secret sauce to naming developments, according to Grimes. Marketing executives and other company officials brainstorm ideas, sometimes deciding to honor local landmarks and prominent families. It typically isn't a drawn-out process, he said.
Hawkins downplayed the significance of the Pirate Village name, saying practical considerations for consumers always carry the most weight in a homebuying decision.
"The name's nice," he said, "but people are looking for location."
Still, in this case, naming the project after a top-performing, local school district could be a wise move, said Justin Benefield, a real estate researcher and finance professor at Auburn University.
"When people are looking at buying a home, the school district is the No. 1 question they ask," he said in an interview. "I think if anything is going to move the needle, this could be it."