Prosper Approved The Marco, a $2 Billion Village on the Tollway. Here's What's Confirmed.

• Prosper's Town Council voted unanimously on Oct. 27, 2026 to approve zoning for The Marco, a 143-acre mixed-use district.
• The approval is zoning, not a construction permit. Four development agreements still need council votes.
• The zoning caps housing at 4,400 units, with up to 2,500 mid-rise apartments.
• Reported start dates differ: late 2026 in one report, late 2027 in another.

Renderings of a Venetian-style village with lagoons and canals have been circulating online for weeks, which makes it easy to assume The Marco is still just a concept. It is not. Prosper's Town Council voted unanimously on Oct. 27, 2026, to approve zoning for The Marco, a 143-acre mixed-use district planned by Blackard Companies at the northeast corner of the Dallas North Tollway and US-380, according to Community Impact's coverage of the meeting.

That is a real, enforceable zoning approval, not a construction permit. Several steps still stand between the vote and the first shovel in the ground, including four separate development agreements that Prosper's Town Council has not yet voted on.

The developer is Jeffory D. Blackard of McKinney-based Blackard Companies, which Fox 4 reports has delivered about $7 billion in real estate assets since 1981, largely in walkable, mixed-use villages. His earlier project, Adriatica Village in McKinney, is a mixed-use development based on a Croatian fishing village, according to Community Impact. Prosper Town Manager Mario Canizares told Community Impact that The Marco is "a very important project, the biggest in the town's history, so we want to get it right."

The zoning did not move through without debate. Prosper's Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval Aug. 18 on a 4-2 vote, with Chairman Damon Jackson and Commissioner Josh Carson dissenting. Carson told the commission, "I feel like we've done less with [The Marco] than we've done with much less significant projects," according to Community Impact. The Town Council had been scheduled to vote Sept. 22 but tabled the item before approving it Oct. 27.

Per Community Impact's review of the zoning documents, the approved plan sets caps rather than one fixed design:

• Up to 4,400 residential units total: up to 2,500 mid-rise apartments, up to 400 high-rise condos or apartments, up to 500 age-restricted apartments, and up to 1,000 single-family and duplex homes.
• Up to two waterfront hotels.
• One or two corporate office campuses, with buildings up to 14 stories near the US-380 and tollway corner.
• At least 30,000 square feet of retail and restaurants required before the developer can build past the first 1,000 mid-rise apartments.
• A 15.5-acre navigable lagoon and canal system that doubles as stormwater detention, ringed by a 26-foot walkway.

One condition worth noting for anyone picturing a signature feature getting quietly dropped later: no apartments can open until the lagoon itself is complete, Community Impact reports.

Prosper's Development Services Director, David Hoover, told the council the next step is a series of four development agreements covering economic incentives, building standards, impact fee waivers, and parks and open space, which town staff hope to finalize "ideally by the end of the year," per Community Impact.

Reporting on timing is not aligned. Fox 4, citing a Blackard Companies press release, reported that construction could begin by the end of 2026. Community Impact, citing a project representative, reported that construction on the lagoon and site-wide infrastructure is expected to begin in late 2027. Neither timeline is unusual for a project at this scale, but any specific move-in date circulating on social media should be treated as speculation until the town or the developer confirms one directly.

A possible shared theater with Prosper Independent School District has also been discussed. Community Impact reports no agreement had been finalized as of September, and the theater could end up inside one of the hotels rather than as a standalone building.

For a buyer already looking at Prosper, the clear takeaway is that The Marco is a real, council-approved project with enforceable zoning limits, not a rumor, but it is also years from delivering its first finished address. That distinction matters most to two kinds of buyers: those drawn to Prosper's growth along the Dallas North Tollway corridor who want to understand what is actually coming before choosing a nearby neighborhood, and relocating or move-up buyers weighing a newer-growth submarket like Prosper against an already-established one.

Amy Jacobs, REALTOR® with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty Texas, guides buyers and sellers through Prosper and the Dallas North Tollway corridor, including custom estate lots, resort-style master plans and acreage, and has guided relocation and new-construction clients in North Texas since 2012. For anyone trying to separate what is confirmed about The Marco from what is still speculation, that kind of locally grounded read is worth more than another rendering online. Buyers and sellers with questions about Prosper can reach Amy Jacobs through her contact page.

• Council votes on the four development agreements: economic incentives, building standards, impact fee waivers, and parks and open space.
• Whether construction timing is confirmed for late 2026 or late 2027, since reports differ.
• Any follow-up zoning or site plan steps for the tollway corner.

• Community Impact: Prosper greenlights $2B Venetian village on Dallas North Tollway. Cited for: council vote, zoning caps, the four development agreements, and the late 2027 timeline.
• FOX 4: Prosper approves zoning for $2 billion Italian-inspired village. Cited for: the developer's background and the end-of-2026 construction report.