8 minute read
REAL ESTATE
MCKINNEY’S TRANSITION FROM RURAL TO SUBURBAN
If you’ve ever taken a ride around McKinney, you’ll fi nd spots of the city that are still empty fi elds or farmland. But those empty fi elds are becoming harder and harder to fi nd thanks to McKinney’s transformation from rural to suburban.
Take Craig Ranch as an example. It went from undeveloped just 20 years ago to being a hub for not only businesses, but also single-family homes and multi-family units.
Th at number is only expected to go up over the next several years. With a number of “high-density” residential projects underway, Craig says the Craig Ranch will add another 10,000 residents.
Th at’s just one of a multitude of communities in McKinney that have been developed over the years.
Th e others, with names like Stonebridge Ranch or Trinity Falls, are at diff erent stages in their development, but still popular among new residents.
“Trinity Falls and Auburn Hills are both popular today because they provide more new build options,” said Julie Williams of Th e Texas Property Sisters Realty Group based in McKinney. “Tucker Hill is always a favorite and they still have a few new home options but are almost built out in this phase. Stonebridge Ranch still remains a very sought-aft er area as well.”
GOING FROM RURAL TO SUBURBAN
When Craig bought the land that Craig Ranch sits on in the early 2000s, it was unrecognizable to what it is today.
“When I fi rst bought the land that’s now Craig Ranch it was very rural. And we also had a mobility issue. When we started – what’s now the Sam Rayburn Toll Road was just a two-lane asphalt road. Th e main lanes didn’t get put in until 2009,” says Craig. “And then what happens? We had the great recession.”
Aft er the recession came to an end, things started to change.
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“Today, we’re developing the corridors – which gives the impression that activity in the area has skyrocketed. But in reality, that’s the last 10 to 15 percent of Craig Ranch,” said Craig. “Before that we focused on residential lots. For many years, people would drive up and down the Sam Rayburn and look over at Craig Ranch and say, ‘Nothing’s happening there.’ Well, that’s because they couldn’t see beyond a certain distance and everything that was beyond that distance was residential.”
Whether those moving to McKinney today are buying homes yet-to-be-built or houses that have already been lived in, the demand is hard to keep up with.
When broken down, the amount of people moving to Texas is quite astounding.
“Every morning when you wake up, there’s about another 1,000 people who call Texas home,” said Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar.
For McKinney in particular, the average number of new residents is between 250 and 450 every month. “We are seeing a lot of growth in the North sections of McKinney,” says Williams. “Trinity Falls continues to expand and has a variety of home sizes and prices starting with $200,000 townhomes to large homes of over $500,000”
WANT TO ATTRACT NEW TALENT? AMENITIES IS THE NAME OF THE GAME
Part of the rural to suburban transformation includes businesses big and small moving themselves and their employees to McKinney.
Th ose companies are being attracted to McKinney for a number of reasons, which certainly include – but isn’t limited to – available land, price of said land, parking, commute, and activities off ered in the area. But there’s one thing – above all else – that companies are looking for before they uproot from one location to move to another said Craig.
Th at is why Hub 121 and District 121 are in the process of being built. In short, those two projects will attract companies, which, in turn, will bring more people to the area, which, in turn, will attract more companies, and the cycle repeats.
“Quality of life, aff ordability, and the small-town feel,” are all things that
make McKinney stick out from the pack argues Williams.
But there’s also something McKinney has that our neighbors don’t have.
LET’S REZONE
What was one of the most important moves made by the city of McKinney to get – among many other things – Craig Ranch’s population to go from 20,000 to 30,000 in the coming years?
In a word, “rezoning,” says Craig.
Specifically, the city rezoned 62 acres in Craig Ranch from what was primarily zoned for office use to include residential and commercial uses as well.
“The significance of that is that we went from surface parking only – and it was a sea of parking – to structural parking,” explained Craig. “In other words, it allows this area to become more dense. It allows this area to become what it was always meant to be, which is a new urban community with just as much urban residential as singlefamily detached.
But Craig Ranch isn’t the only place in McKinney where rezoning will allow for more hotels, retail space, and residential units.
On the near east side – at Spur 399 and Highway 5 – plans are in the works to build urban single-family residents, a hotel, and retail and restaurant spaces on 28 acres after the McKinney Planning and Zoning Commission voted 5-2 to rezone the area in January of 2021.
According to meeting records, the target market for this community will be those who want to – or need to – lease rather than own and want to live near city niceties.
“If you’re creating a sense of place, a neighborhood, or community – you need to have a mixture of all this stuff,” said Craig.
And that’s exactly what McKinney is aiming to do.
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WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?
Today, McKinney has a population just under 200,000. According to the city, from January of 2020 to January of 2021, McKinney’s population grew by 1.6 percent. Over the last 20 years, the city says population has grown by nearly 339 percent – from 58,438 in 2001 to 198,507 in 2021.
“It is always our hope that families, companies, and investors will look at McKinney and have the desire to make us their destination, and the numbers suggest that they are,” said City Manager Paul Grimes. “Our rapid growth, while preserving the history and charm our residents love, can be attributed to diligent oversight and planning by dedicated staff , as well as an engaged City Council and community that guides the direction of the city to develop into a world-class community.”
Th ere’s every indication that the growth over the last 10-20 years will
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continue. Th e city saw $852 million in new construction in 2020 compared to $728 million in 2019. Th at’s a nearly 17 percent jump.
Part of that – was new home construction. McKinney issued over 1,500 new home construction permits in 2020.
And over the past four years, nearly 5,000 apartments have been added to the city, second most in the U.S. Th e only city outpacing McKinney happens to be its neighbor, Frisco, which added over 8,000 apartments in the same timeframe.
Craig says much of the development in the future will be north of 380.
“Th e center of the city, when fully developed, is 380 and 75,” he said.
In other words, there’s plenty more land that can be developed.
“We’ve identified two more properties that we think we can do something significant on,” said Craig, being purposefully coy.
Ultimately, the question becomes why move to McKinney, however, when several of McKinney’s neighbors also have a lot to off er?
“Quality of life, aff ordability, and the small-town feel,” argues Williams.
MCKINNEY WELCOMES YOU HOME!
The average number of new residents is between 250 and 450 every month.
