A 143-acre Italian-village development at the Dallas North Tollway and U.S. 380 cleared its first major hurdle Tuesday, Aug. 18, when the Prosper Planning and Zoning Commission voted 4-2 to send The Marco to the Town Council.

The project would bring up to 4,400 residential units, more than 1 million square feet of office space, retail, restaurants, up to two hotels and a performing arts venue to one of the town's last major undeveloped intersections.

BlackStone Communities Principal Jeffory Blackard pitched the commission on a Venetian-style village anchored by a 15-acre lagoon and canal system large enough to navigate by boat. The lagoon would double as regional stormwater detention and be encircled by a 26-foot-wide pedestrian walkway called a passeggiata, with cars pushed to the development's outer ring.

"That is the best piece of undeveloped real estate, maybe in the world," Blackard told commissioners at the hearing, according to Local Profile. "If somebody's better than me, then somebody else can go do this. But take care of this corner."

Blackard is also behind Adriatica Village in McKinney, a 45-acre development inspired by Supetar, a fishing village on Croatia's island of Brač.

The planned development agreement caps total units at 4,400: up to 2,500 mid-rise apartments, 400 high-rise condominiums or apartments, 500 retirement-community units and 1,000 single-family or duplex homes. The 4,400-unit cap and the 2,500-unit apartment cap are fixed in the current draft; other unit-type numbers may shift before final approval, according to town documents reviewed ahead of the hearing by Community Impact.

Beyond housing, conceptual plans show a public square, a grocery store and market hall, office condos for smaller firms, two corporate headquarters campuses and a performing arts center called The Phoenix. Retail would concentrate along the tollway frontage.

The names of the four commissioners who voted in favor and the two who voted against have not been released. Official meeting minutes were not posted as of Thursday, Aug. 20, and no on-record explanation of the dissenting votes was available in published reports.

The Town Council is scheduled to take up The Marco on Sept. 22. Residents can attend that meeting to provide public comment. BlackStone Communities hopes to begin construction within the next year.