Over the past 20 years, new development of homes and businesses has gobbled up most of Southlake’s remaining open land. But a sprawling tract of prime, vacant land at the northwest corner of North White Chapel Boulevard and State Highway 114 remained an untouched reminder of the city’s rural past.

Civic leaders long envisioned this property becoming another crown jewel for Southlake – until timing and circumstances got in the way. In 2008, Hines Development obtained approval to develop a 285-acre, mixed-use development, known as Carillon. It would be more than twice the size of Southlake Town Square’s 130 acres with nearly 400 luxury home-sites and a 42-acre commercial zone. Hines moved forward with building homes, but the fallout from the Great Recession in 2008 led Hines to abandon plans for the commercial area, Carillon Parc.

The property went up for sale in 2016 and was subsequently purchased in 2019 by Hunter Chase Development Partners, a firm led by John Terrell, former Southlake mayor and dynamo in all aspects of real estate.

A Fort Worth native, Terrell’s acumen for real estate is embedded in his DNA. His father, Tom Terrell, who served as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, and his mother, Kathy Terrell, owned and operated one of the largest real estate licensing schools in Texas. “I grew up talking real estate at the dinner table,” Terrell, 62, says. “We lived and breathed real estate.”

The week Terrell turned 18, the Paschal High School graduate made history by becoming the youngest person to earn his real estate license in Texas in 1982.

“You have to hold that license for two years before becoming a broker,” he says. 

While attending the University of Texas at Arlington as an undergrad, he taught real estate licensing classes through his parents’ program, which operated within the continuing education division at UTA. He also managed the administrative duties of his parents’ school.

“Teaching real estate was how I earned extra money for college,” he says. In between his college classes and teaching real estate, Terrell found time to get to know a young lady named Joanne, who would become his wife.

Besides UTA, Terrell taught real estate classes at several local colleges, including Texas Christian University and the University of North Texas. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business management and his MBA at UTA.

But his ultimate goal was to become a hands-on industry practitioner. To achieve that goal, he has been involved in every facet of real estate, from land development to investment to property management and more.

Terrell’s portfolio includes high-profile private and public real estate projects, as well as 15 years of service as Vice President of Commercial Development for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where his leadership produced the development of 4,000 acres of land, office buildings for new offices, hotel and retail facilities, which he says boosted the airport’s revenues from real estate leasing and development substantially.

Terrell’s imprint is on many high-profile projects, including Pinnacle Park, a 900-plus-acre, mixed-use development near downtown Dallas; the Pepsi Center (now Ball Arena) in Denver; and the Alamodome in San Antonio. He was involved with the sale of the old Cotton Belt rail line for Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s Green Line and negotiated the expansion of Highway 114 near the airport.

Those who know him and have worked with him say Terrell’s success is as much about his personality as his skillfulness.

“He has this positivity about him,” says Shana Yelverton, Southlake’s former city manager who is now retired. “He’s extremely energetic and highly resourceful. If anyone is positioned to make something happen, it’s John Terrell. But he is also just a really nice person, very kind and really cares about others. John is someone for whom relationships with people really matter.”

A large part of his career has been at the intersection of real estate development and transportation systems. Early in his career, he led real estate initiatives for the Southern Pacific Transportation Company in Dallas and San Francisco, and for Union Pacific Railroad in Dallas. He also led efforts to bring passenger rail services from Dallas and Fort Worth into DFW Airport.

Toward the end of his 15-year tenure with DFW, Terrell was eager to pursue real estate projects on his own. Among his endeavors is the development of a 120-acre resort complete with a natural forest, a “pristine” lake and a river in a community called Cedar Hills Lakes in Broken Bow, Oklahoma.

“Everyone who sees it just falls in love with it,” he says. 

Terrell is an investor and owner in the historic Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells, which will re-open in 2026-27 as a resort destination. He also consults with airports in cities such as San Antonio, Fort Myers, Austin and Nashville to help boost commercial development and revenue growth.

But the 42.5-acre development of Carillon Parc in Southlake remains a top priority and legacy project for Terrell.

“Carillon Parc represents an amazing opportunity to raise the bar for Southlake, creating a European-styled, experiential, mixed-use development that the citizens of Southlake will benefit from for many years,”  Terrell says.

Terrell and his family moved to Southlake in 1997 because of the stellar reputation of the Carroll school district, where his son, Jacob, and daughter, Jordan, would attend.

As a real estate pro, Terrell recognized Southlake’s potential, which was just on the cusp of transformative growth. He quickly raised his hand for a seat at the table.

He earned an appointment to the Zoning Board of Adjustment, which led to the chairmanship of Southlake’s Planning and Zoning Commission. In 2004, he was elected to the Southlake City Council, and in 2009, he was elected mayor, serving through his term limit in 2015.

During those years, development exploded in Southlake and Terrell had a seat on the podium and a say in the vision for how it would transpire. He presided over the construction of new facilities, including new public safety facilities and protocols, as well as parks, trails and sidewalks.

Terrell also championed the construction of the Miracle League baseball field for youth with special needs in Bicentennial Park. Joanne Terrell has served on the board since its founding.

His civic roles also kept Terrell extremely familiar with plans for Carillon Parc. Terrell was an ex-mayor when the 42-acre commercial property was put up for sale. Aided by support from more than 400 citizens, the partners won approval for the updated plans. An agreement with the city for parking structures increased the amount of open space and turned the $350-million project into a public-private partnership.

The pandemic delayed the planned 2020 ground-breaking. “We spent the next year waiting to see what would happen with the real estate market,” Terrell says.

In 2022, Hunter Chase sold the property to Carillon Crown LLC, a development firm led by Terrell with partners Farrukh Azim and Hemanth Golla.

Ground-breaking occurred in May 2023. The development will include 79 homes, 50 condos, more than 700,000 square feet of restaurant, office and retail space, a boutique hotel and up to 8 acres of open space.

“It will have a very European feel with European-style boutiques and chef-driven restaurants,” Terrell says. A highlight will be a $4.5-millon water feature with synchronized music and lights.

Despite his many professional endeavors, Terrell’s top priority is his family. No matter how busy he was, Terrell was on the sidelines cheering for his kids and their sports teams when they were young.

Now as adults, they are helping carry on the family legacy. Jacob oversees construction of the Broken Bow development and his daughter, Jordan, an assistant college volleyball coach, is pursuing her real estate license to also work in the family business.

Terrell built his parents a two-bedroom house adjoining his Southlake home so he can look after them and seek their sage advice on all his real estate endeavors.