Amy Castellanos, senior vice president of development for M2G Ventures, the city’s partner for the redevelopment, presented an update on the project to City Council members at a July 23 special meeting.
About the project
The redevelopment effort is focused on four city-owned properties totaling about 4.75 acres that will soon be vacant following the relocation of city staff to the new McKinney City Hall in early 2025. The properties include the current City Hall, the Development Services building and two adjacent parking lots to the north.
The project will be completed through a public-private partnership between the city of McKinney and Fort Worth-based real estate agency M2G Ventures.
Conceptual redevelopment plans presented by the firm at previous meetings proposed a mixed-use project featuring multifamily residential, parking structures, a boutique hotel and open space as well as retail and restaurant space. The presentation given July 23 shared more specific details, including how each proposed use could be laid out across the sites.
Diving deeper
The current site plan includes a six-story, full-service hotel with 139 rooms, according to the presentation. The hotel would also include nearly 3,000 square feet of retail and restaurant spaces, including a beer garden and grill, as well as almost 5,000 square feet of meeting space.
Other elements of the plan include:
- A 3-story office building
- 12 townhomes
- 166 multifamily units with over 360 parking spaces
“On the 4.75 acres, there’s clearly an opportunity to develop a meaningful mixed-use development,” Castellanos said. “A lot actually fits on there.”
Also of note
Castellanos also presented an alternative plan created after considering feedback from members of the community and the City Council. The plan utilizes the same layout for the blocks featuring the office building, townhomes and multifamily units, but changes some aspects of the hotel as well as the location of the parking garage.
The alternative plan includes a raised amenity deck attached to the hotel as well as a 10,660-square-foot meeting space, increasing the overall square footage for the hotel from 103,814 in the original plan to 116,640, according to the presentation.
The alternative plan would also relocate the planned parking garage from a lot directly north of the Roy and Helen Hall Memorial Library to a lot to the southwest of the library, adjacent to the proposed hotel.
The garage would also span four stories and include 286 parking spaces. The garage and hotel would frame 6,000 square feet of park and plaza space that could be developed across North Kentucky Street between East Hunt Street and East Herndon Street.What they’re saying
McKinney Mayor George Fuller noted that while the proposed site plans include the addition of parking structures and some surface parking, the project would also remove 431 existing parking spaces.
“I just want to make sure that we’re not downgrading our parking [and] that we are at least maintaining, if not improving, [the parking spaces available],” Fuller said.
Multiple council members expressed concern for the amount of office space included in the plan, saying there could be more added to serve companies looking to locate in downtown McKinney. Castellanos noted that office space would likely need to be pre-leased to add more to the site plan.
“I think we’re selling ourselves short on office space,” council member Rick Franklin said.
Council member Justin Beller said he would prefer to see a higher density of for-sale condominiums in place of the 12 proposed townhomes, but also noted that the area is seeing growth in residential offerings outside of the redevelopment project.
Quote of note
“It is extremely important that the redevelopment ... serves as a catalyst spurring other development in the area,” Castellanos said.
Stay tuned
City Council members directed the M2G Ventures team to proceed with the town hall event scheduled for July 29 to collect public feedback on the updated plans.
Additional work is also required to finalize the project program and phasing, as well as complete a financial analysis, according to the presentation at the meeting.
The project is currently under negotiation and subsequent phases are dependent on a finalized development agreement between the city and M2G Ventures, according to the city’s website. The negotiation period was extended by City Council members in June, allowing for negotiations to continue through Dec. 31.
More information about the downtown redevelopment initiative can be found on the city’s website.
