The Latest Breaking News from Fairfield Lake State Park

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department began the legal process of eminent domain to seize the former state park and save it from being turned into an upscale subdivision. The agency had offered a Dallas-based developer $103 million for it.

Todd Interests, which plans to turn the former park into a high-end subdivision, has a week left to respond to the state’s final offer for the property.

Texans—already starved for public land—have bid adieu to a well-visited patch of parkland between Dallas and Houston.

For decades the park has sat on leased land that the owner recently decided to sell. As the staff closed the gates Monday night for the last time, visitors and staff held out hope that the state could find a way to save the park.

After investing $72 million in improvements at Fairfield Lake State Park over three decades, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is out. The state has 120 days to vacate the property.