LAREDO, TEXAS — SE Legacy Development LLC, a development firm founded by the Walker Family, has broken ground on a $7.4 billion master-planned project in South Texas. The development, named Talise, will be situated on 13,000 acres north of Laredo in an unincorporated portion of Webb County.
Situated at the intersection of I-35, U.S. Highway 83 and Texas Highway 255, Talise will feature thousands of single-family and multifamily residences, an industrial and manufacturing park, town center retail space, regional airport and a newly discovered water source. The name Talise is a term with Native American-Iroquoian roots meaning “lovely water.”
The Walker Family, a multi-generational entity that has owned ranch land spanning more than 250,000 acres over the course of its history, owns the land for Talise and is investing $1.6 billion in the development.
The Walker Family discovered the water source on the land and is proposing a way to use the resource as an alternative solution to current water shortages in Laredo and Webb County. The newly established Legacy Water Supply Corp. is proposing a method to treat 50 million gallons of water within the Talise land holdings daily. SE Legacy Development is drilling 40 water wells to access the water source.
“Identifying and securing the water resources that Talise possesses — and which we can provide and sell into perpetuity — is truly breathtaking,” says David Earl, general counsel and chief development officer for SE Legacy Development.
The construction timeline and specifics about each component of the development were not disclosed. The property website states that the first two phases to come on line will be a mixed-use component called The Township at Talise and a single-family neighborhood named The Springs at Talise.
According to a property brochure, The Township at Talise will feature a 268-acre logistics park spanning 3.8 million square feet of industrial space across 14 buildings. Partners Real Estate is listed as the leasing agent for the industrial development, which will be known as Township Logistics Park at Talise, and Stewart Development as the co-developer for the park. Cushman & Wakefield is also assisting Partners Real Estate in the marketing efforts for up to 600,000 square feet of cold storage space that is planned to support the project. The brochure notes that build-to-suit opportunities are available, as well as speculative cold storage and a commercial fueling station.
— John Nelson