The project is a collaboration between property owner Terry Casey and Texas-based development firm Presidium. The project, set to break ground in mid-2024, will bring over 1,100 multifamily units along with office and commercial space to the land directly south of the mill building.
The redevelopment is expected to cost just under $1 billion, according to Presidium President of Development Mark Farrell.
Variances requested for the project July 18 included allowing up to seven stories for some of the multifamily buildings, three levels higher than the site’s previous zoning allowed.
“The Cotton Mill [team] fully believes and supports that seven stories will bring the right density to make this a cultural district, which is what we’ve always wanted to be for McKinney,” Cotton Mill representative McCall Casey said.
Council members voted 5-2 to approve the variances requested, with Mayor Pro Tem Charlie Philips and Council Member Geré Feltus voting against it. Feltus said she believed the redevelopment would be unique from west McKinney, but she couldn’t support the height of the buildings.
The impact
The redevelopment effort is expected to bring a higher concentration of people to East McKinney, including new residents as well as people working in the offices and businesses being built as part of the project, Farrell said
“The more density you can put on this site, the more people will support that public space and make it successful,” Farrell said.
The density planned for the site will also serve to bring other resources to the area, such as grocery stores or restaurants, McKinney Mayor George Fuller said at the July 18 meeting.
“Catalyzing this neighborhood; ... eliminating the food desert, the restaurant desert, the entertainment desert—that’s only going to happen with density,” Fuller said.
Council Member Justin Beller, who represents District 1 where the site is located, said the project is reminiscent of the live, work, play community created when the Cotton Mill was originally built in 1910. The value of the project also outweighed his concerns about the height of the buildings, Beller said at the meeting.
MillHouse McKinney, a creative coworking space for women founded by Beth Beck and Aimee Woolverton, has been a business tenant of the McKinney Cotton Mill since 2018. Beck said the area lacks resources, such as restaurants that are planned as part of the project.
“There’s no place to eat or play over here at all,” she said. “We’ve even tried it. We had food trucks; ... they couldn’t make enough money.”
Beck, who spoke in support of the project at the July 18 meeting, said she has known about Casey’s plan to develop the site since she started her business at the McKinney Cotton Mill.
“If you’re going to have growth, I think this is a great place to have it,” Beck said.What they’re saying
- “You’re [bringing density and resources] in a place that doesn’t necessarily put us at risk for displacement or other factors. [It’s] a place that we’ve all agreed warrants this,” said Justin Beller, McKinney City Council Member
- “The east side is a jewel, and it holds so much history and so much culture that to lose sight of that through new development would be a loss not just for the community but for the developer, too,” said Beth Bentley, Legacy Keepers of Old East McKinney co-founder
- “It’s kind of just the beginning of a conversation about growth, and I just think we’re [going to] keep having these conversations,” MillHouse McKinney co-founder Beth Beck said.
The redevelopment project will take inspiration from the history and culture of the area, according to project representatives. The project is estimated to be completed eight to 10 years after the groundbreaking.
