Exploring Cinnamon Shores: The '30A' Resort Hotspot of Texas

I am Candy Evans and this is Dallas Dirt. Now, we may be in Dallas, but we are really taking you today to the Texas Gulf Coast. Yes, the Texas Gulf Coast where it's a beautiful beach and there's a lots of surf and there's sand and their cinnamon shore, and I have my guests today Jody and Leanne Peters. Who are with Cinnamon Shore, in fact, have developed Cinnamon Shore.

And if you haven't heard about Cinnamon Shore, pay attention because you're gonna know all about it after our show today. you need to know about it because it is one of the prominent vacation home communities in the United States and a big one in Texas. That's right. You can drive down there.

What is it, four hours from Dallas in a car? About six. About six? Yeah.

Okay. And then you can fly down there An hour. Yeah. Corpus Christi, here we go.

Take it away. Leanne, tell us about Shore and how you first got to know this community. Well, that, that's a story. It requires a glass of wine.

Oh good. That's okay. But, um, we met this developer in Atlanta where we were doing real estate and he wanted us to check this place out in Port Aransas, Texas. we hop on a plane and come with him to check it out.

next thing you know, we're packing a suitcase and moving to Texas. From Atlanta? Yeah. well, I'm gonna explain a little bit about Atlanta.

Atlanta very often vacations in Florida on the Florida coast, on the west coast, at a place they call 30 a, which is, it started developing in 1981 with Seaside. And it just grew and grew I was down there following this and tracking this. So that's why when I heard about Cinnamon Shore, I was like. Oh my God.

We're getting, we're getting the 30 a vibe here in Texas, much closer and in our state. So it doesn't surprise me at all that you guys are from Atlanta because you knew about that. That's where we went. That's where, yes.

You went all the time. Yes. So many people went there. So what did you think when you came here and you came to, Port Aransas?

were you just like, oh my God. I was, struck by how much land was available and, the beauty of the land. Mm-hmm. the interesting thing about the Texas coast is that there is not very much land left that can be developed.

So a lot of it will remain looking the way it is. the interesting thing. Is that most Texans were still going to 30 A to Florida to either Seaside or Watercolor or Rosemary Beach. And so our generation grew up coming to Port Aransas, like that's where they vacationed as children with their families, but they did not necessarily want to stay in the older places in Port Aransas.

when Cinnamon Shore came along, we weren't surprised at the following that we started getting Texans would call and say, this looks like Seaside in Florida. And we said, it's gonna be like that. But We're in Texas. We're in your backyard.

Yes, we're right here in your backyard. Exactly. Because I know so many people. It's about a 12 to 14 hour drive.

I mean, you gotta get in your suburban, pack it up or you fly. It was long. now they have the smaller airports. we flew down there to Corpus and I don't think I even had my seatbelt.

Buckled and we were there. it was so fast. about 12 years ago I discovered this and, because I cover second homes, I'm always obsessed with the idea of, vacation properties. I went down to visit and I was just blown away by the beauty of your homes and everything.

It's a beach cottage community. Everything is built that way. It looks very much like seaside and. Watercolor and all those beautiful areas on 30 A that kind of was the plan, wasn't it?

The inspiration came from 30 A. But like. My mother said it is Texas's version of 38 from Seaside. Now I have to explain, we have a mother daughter team in case you don't know here.

I don't know if you can tell who's the mother and who's the daughter, Leanne is, the mother of Jody. And did you just go into real estate immediately? Pretty much. Yeah.

I mean, yeah. growing up. Yeah. Yeah.

You grew up steep, So, so they started the community together. they brought it up out of the ground and, worked with Jeff Lampkin. Mm-hmm. So Jeff is actually the developer in the visionary.

I see. And the real estate team is the one that gets to bring it to life. Right. Bring it to life and make it go.

Yes. so that's what you did. When you built that first, you started turning the dirt and you had that first home there. how did you feel when that sold?

It was just such an exciting time, and actually we were infants, you know? Just getting our streets in and we didn't have our pools and our lakes were there, but, people believed our vision and they were looking for. The Florida Coast and Texas. it's so rewarding to see Texans staying, keeping the money in the state And supporting Texas Beach.

But with the beauty that the 30 a corridor offers But without the traffic, and I'm assuming you have much more retail and restaurant. On the campus or on site? On site than you did when I, I think there was maybe one or two stores, maybe one when I was there. Of course, I remember Port Aransas and probably the best Italian food I've ever had in my life at the Venetian hot.

Venetian hot plates. Awesome. She still there? She's still there, yeah.

Oh my God. It was like, are you kidding me? This is so good. we thought Port Aransas was so charming.

It is charming. It's charming. It's just amazing. This is in our backyard.

So you, created an interesting dynamic You had people ready to come because they'd been there as children. But of course, you know, when you, when we're all, you know, 40, 50 years ago, things di are different. The, the homes get a little older. You know, the, the hotels get older, and it's not as pleasant.

So of course there's the newness of 30 A, which, Grasped everyone and everyone embraced it, but then they could turn around and say, oh my gosh, we can go back and relive our childhood with our family and be in a new home, a new place. Yeah. So how does the Texas coast do you think differ from 30 a? Well, the town of Port Aransas.

Is what is so great. Port Aransas is the town Where, cinnamon Shore is located, but we are just outside of the town. Right. But the town is so charming when, so first it's, so it's a support came to Portea for the first time.

Yeah. It was, almost like a breath of fresh air because it was just such a quaint, original, Little Seaside Village. right. Port A is The nickname Poor Port A.

And it is. And see when, you know, when you go up two 30 A, you really don't, you have Panama City. Yeah. And that's not super attractive really there's a little town with a school and a real, community, There's a big draw to that.

And people been there for And historical homes. Yes. Yes. So you really have a different vibe.

A definitely sea village vibe. So then you built this because your sand is not white, it's cinnamon colored. Hence cinnamon It's some of the days it can look as white as your. Blouse.

Really? Yes, it really does. The water can be just blue and the water barrier, especially in October. October, we have these gorgeous sunsets.

And sunrises. but the difference I would say between Texas and Florida, we get to see the sunrise in the morning over the water, so that's so special too. land is kind of. You know, it's kind of jutting out into the golf.

Whereas when you're in Florida, you're just looking west. Yes. We've also become a golf cart community and people really like that. you can load your stuff up and your family up and drive to the beach and it's really, it's of in experience.

Yeah. It's a little different in Florida, but, the sand is also really compact, so if you are an avid walker. We love to walk the beach in the morning. So, um, and you don't get, you don't get your feet stuck in the sand, you can go for a nice walk.

the sunrise over the water is a huge. Point of differentiation. Well, if I remember correctly from our visit, my husband was quite impressed with your waves. He loves to ride waves.

I used to do it, but now it's too cold. But he was so impressed. the west coast of Florida is very calm. but when you get down there, there was some wave action.

we thought that was just awesome. We had. surf contests in Port A. Yes.

You can surf. Oh, and we do surfing lessons at Cinnamon Shore. So the little kids are out there and they're getting up on boards when they're seven to surf. That's awesome.

So you got this started and phase one kind of grew, when did phase two come about? So we had the plan and the design for phase two for, several years working in design on that. And then we launched it for pre-sale. Was that in 2018?

We launched it. Made our first, 20 sales at the end of 2018. We're able to close them in 2019 and then all of a sudden covid. I was gonna say, your timing probably was perfect.

It was, yeah. But we had just been through Harvey. So we were just coming out of a hurricane. A and then the pandemic, which brought on, a growth that nobody was, and many of our owners lived at Cinnamon Shore during that lockdown period.

they would be posting pictures on the beach and their friends would say, where are you? And they're like, In Cinnamon shore. Yes, we're out on the beach What happened that year was, spring break. people came down for spring break and then they just didn't leave.

They stayed and then they bought because they loved it. their friends came and, that's when we sold through. Cinema Shore South, the very first phase of Cinnamon Shore South, and just No time. We, we were, we couldn't release it.

We were presell into phases that didn't even exist. So we were creating the land plan And selling it at the same time. It was just. Unbelievable.

I thought about you. we, all met, we had our Zoom meetings when Covid started, and some of my second home communities in Colorado and other places would call me and say, oh my God, what are we gonna do? Is anyone gonna buy real estate? are we gonna buy second homes?

I told, the folks in Colorado, I said, you're in the mountains. you are gonna make so much money, you're not gonna be able to count it. It's gonna be amazing. And of course that's what happened because people wanted to get away and get out.

What are you gonna do with your kids? They're home all the time. Send 'em to the beach. It's perfect.

Yeah, it was perfect. at one point in time they had the beaches. no driving. So it was all just people walking on the beach and it was wonderful.

It was great. so that was kind of the thing that spurred, and before you knew phase two was sold. And did you have the condos there? 'cause I don't know if you, I think you were just building them when I was there.

So you had, we had a couple buildings standing. the condos that, circle Town Center. The Town center and Cinnamon Shore North. And that.

Is where all of our retail and restaurants live is in the town center. And the condos are what? you know what circled? Yes.

Because there's lakes and pools and things like that. And parks. And so how do you have it structured? there's the beach.

Mm-hmm. And then your first, and probably your most expensive property is the beachfront. Yes. But do you have it staggered to the homes behind there also can see.

the beach as well, is that how you do it or is it all one row? so the, the overall design of the community, it was, Marchelle is our urban designer. Mm-hmm. And what is talented person.

but so it is a new urbanist community and so there's very specific design requirements and design elements, that when you're at the community, Everything just feels right. at the end of the View corridor you might see this beautiful tower Uhhuh, and that same tower might have views over a house to the water, all intentionally designed that way. we try to take advantage of all the views because, what also is really in, what we do different at shore, because there's so many views in Sinema Shore, is the reverse living.

So you know where your second floor is, your main living space? Mm-hmm. Because that's where the views are, right? You might be looking over a park or down a street boulevard.

so the living room, the kitchens are upstairs and the bedrooms are on the first floor. Right. Right. That's interesting.

But you're absolutely right. The whole point and this started with Seaside, In Florida on 38, was that, design for the communities where you could walk anywhere. Nothing was ever more than a mile from where you lived you could bicycle and just get there. when my children were little, this is what I always loved about vacations, you could go there and the children could have free range.

I think that's what helped so many of these communities grow You let the kids have a wonderful child, summer safe place. Yes, exactly. A safe place to run and play like normal kiddos Yes, we all did years ago. And so that's how you guys developed, cinnamon short with intentionality, the walkable, you know, it's a very walkable community, right?

Front porches, public spaces where. You know, you have high density, so you know the homes are 10 feet apart, but you've got these beautiful parks. That everybody can enjoy. So it encourages people to get out and walk and enjoy the community.

And meet your neighbors. go to the beach. Right. Exactly.

And of course it is nice you can take the carts down there. That really does make it, you know, instead of dragging the wagons like the rest of us do. The kids love it. The kids love that.

So that is so interesting. When I was there, you had a couple little. I think little restaurants and now you have probably more. We're actually getting ready to open our first true boutique.

Well, it's Ladies, men's and Children's Boutique, and it's called The Shore Shop. it's beautiful. We have two new restaurants opening this summer. One is tiki j's.

It's gonna be more of a, tiki style bar and restaurant. and then, Jason stouts at the shore will be the second large restaurant right next to Lisa Ella's inside the town center. so would you, and of course, you also don't have to eat out all the time there. You can cook at home People load up at the grocery store and they have those beautiful kitchens you can really cook up some great fish and, have in-home chefs and home chef don't wanna cook or come to you.

We have beach boils down on the beach that we provide. So that's a really fun family. activity to do is to have a bonfire down on the beach in the evening and do the shrimp boil. Yes.

That's really fun. Families really love that. And then they don't have to fool with, cleaning their kitchen in the evening. right.

Everything's done. And it's really good too. Yeah. So we have Lisa Bellas restaurant.

Mm-hmm. that's kind of Mediterranean fair. we have Dylan's Pizza, which is fantastic. people rave about, the food there.

We have Shore Cafe, which is like a little coffee shop and cafe. and then now we have Tiki J'S opening Plus our two. pool restaurants. I don't.

You don't have to leave. You don't have to leave. You can stay, Yeah, you can. And then if you want to go, it's only like 30 minutes to port A, correct?

yeah. Couple miles. Yeah. Yeah.

You could bicycle, you could totally bicycle. You can take your golf cart down the beach, That's right. it's amazing that you guys don't have more Dallas sites knowing about this. I think you have a good core group here, but I think it's going to grow because North Texas needs this.

I mean, we all need our beach, it's just something that's a part of us. You get to the beach and your adrenaline escapes and your blood pressure just goes down when you see that water and those waves. I think there's something subliminal about it. You know, it's proven.

special place. Yes. I mean, not only is Porter Anza just a, a beautiful town, you know, with wonderful people. But, cinnamon Shore is definitely a special place.

we call it the heart, It's really just a sense of community it reflects the kind of family feel and the fact that you have been there the whole time, you know, from the very beginning. It's amazing. how old were you? were you out of college, when you started this or were you a baby?

Well, I'll say that my daughter, you know, was one, So, and she's 16. Okay. So, yeah. So you've been there the whole time.

it's been almost 18 years. Crazy my parents led the sales team from day, one and we're still here. The original team. I have to say, we work with a really amazing developer who does what he says he's going to do.

he really is the true visionary. And this is Sea Oats, which is the cos Group. Yes. Yeah.

And they're also very committed to sustainability, as I understand, correct? Yes. And that's kind of built into every home In to mature? Well, it's the overall design of the community.

Okay. So all of the walkability, the public spaces. Right. that's all sustainable living.

we also use a lot of, green building products. We've recently used this BLE block, which is like a concrete based for one of our larger buildings. interesting. So tell us about.

Phase three. Phase two is sold out now, right? We'll be in phase two. We still have, maybe a year, year and a half.

we do have future phases, that are really exciting. we can't, let it out of the bag yet? But we have a lot, in the plan for the future. How is phase two different from phase one?

Larger, larger We have larger lakes in phase two. Oh, okay. And boardwalks that, surround the lakes. it is larger.

The architecture is just. It's beautiful. Yes. So that'll be, the same style, the cottagey.

Whitewash. timeless. It's, timeless and classic. Very classic.

Yes. Now you can buy a home furnished, correct? Oh, yeah. Yes.

Totally furnished. Mm-hmm. Or not. Or not.

Okay. how do you go about the furnishings? Do you do everything from the China to the silverware? we can do whatever somebody wants Some people want to say, just do it all.

You know, let me just have the key and move in. Yeah. And some want to be very involved with the architect and the designer. Which is a fun process.

Yeah. If you're creative and you enjoy design, then working with an architect and, designing the house for the views that is a really fun process. I would imagine that is probably your number one goal is to maximize the windows and the views. And so you kind of learn to accept the fact that there are storms, you know?

Mm-hmm. There are storms and they come and they go. if you rebuild, if something is knocked down, That's nature. I think we're all getting used to that.

Yeah. More of us, more than ever now. Right. And you really haven't had, knock on wood since Harvey You haven't had any major storms there.

But our developer raised the land of cinnamon shore. So flooding was not ever an issue. And, so when you drove through Cinnamon Shore after Harvey. you could not see any damage at all.

Wow. Our little town sustained some damage, but the rebuilding has been beautiful. And still staying with the little eclectic town that it is. So, but yes, he raised the land and that caused some money to bring that extra sand in.

But you can see how it paid off. that's very important. And that's also a very good sign of a community that will thrive and grow is when the developer plans well and actually invest the capital into what's needed. So, in addition to that, the design code requires, certain, building requirements.

which are like the windows Do you have to have shutters on the windows then, you just have to have the windstorm, doors and windows. Doors and windows. But it was a testament to the design of the community and of the homes you know the sustainability Of the construction. Harvey put it through the test.

And we came You came through. And that was quite a test I might say. Yes. And unless, there won't be another one in our lifetime.

I just know God would not do that. So that's what I see about the present hollow tornado too. I'm like, we probably won't see another one, but it is amazing that, you guys have just thrived and developed. So well, I'm so happy when I hear that because it's a success story and there haven't, they're not always second home communities, they're not always success stories, unfortunately.

There's a few that, that I've seen. I'm like, I'm, you know, they're beautiful, great intentions, but they either weren't, you know, funded well enough or they just didn't have the right sales team, and you guys had. All the right ingredients, plus a very beautiful location. I'm dying to get, Jeff on the show sometime and ask him how he found, the land?

Do you know the story? How did he find it? Yeah. He actually, hired a private plane and flew the whole coastline of the United States looking for pockets of land.

the far northeast headland. The far northwest, but the climates are, challenging. And then he said, once he flew the Texas coast, he said that was it. he, zeroed in on Port Aransas and that coastal area that was the place the climate the fishing and the small town that is so the charm.

It is charming world class fishing and some of the best people you will ever meet I have to ask you one last question 'cause I think a lot of people wanna know, how are you keeping that charm? How are you keeping a control on it so it doesn't become. a place where you don't wanna go because you gotta wait in line and it's over commercialized. How are you doing It actually won't become that way because most of the land cannot be developed.

land It's state. There is, a park on Mustang Island. So we're on Mustang Island, which is 18 miles long. Port Aransas is at the northern tip of Mustang Island and we're just a couple miles outside of the city.

just south of us is a park. So much of the island can't even be developed. we wanna preserve that too. yes, we do.

sure. Well, thank you Jeff Lambkin for And finding this little spot and making it available so people can have. Experiences there and you know, I'm sure some people probably wanna retire there and live there full time. Yes, yes they do.

we are starting to see more of that, We'll have to talk about that the next time we get together. Thank you so much. My lovely Peters, my Peter's ladies right here. Thank you.

Thank you so much for coming. And we look forward to hearing more about Cinnamon Shore and visiting Cinnamon Shore. if you haven't been to Cinnamon Shore, I would highly suggest that you look at that as your next vacation destination. give Jodi, give Leanne a call, and they'll show you around.

That's it for this episode of Dallas Dirt.