Plans are underway to develop an affordable apartment community in north McKinney as part of a public-private partnership between The NRP Group and the McKinney Housing Finance Corporation.
The full story
McKinney City Council members unanimously approved zoning and annexation terms for a 15.7-acre parcel located at the southwest corner of FM 1461 and Baxter Well Road. The action came after public input from some property owners living nearby within McKinney’s extraterritorial jurisdiction.
Teshia Bilecki-Blanton, who resides on Baxter Well Road, said she was “deeply concerned” about the proposed development. Roadways around the location are “narrow, rural and already strained,” she said.
“This area was never designed to support high-density housing,” Bilecki-Blanton said. “The infrastructure simply isn’t there.”
Council member Patrick Cloutier said affordable housing is a “huge pressure point” for council members and that more was needed in the area. Despite making “magnificent strides,” the city lacks affordable housing for residents making under 80% of the area’s median income in this part of McKinney, he said.
“I do feel for y’all because there’s some things that are true that you’re saying,” Cloutier said. “There’s going to be more traffic. It’s coming.”
About the project
The NRP Group is planning to develop an apartment complex consisting of 288 units, said Bob Roeder of McKinney-based law firm Abernathy Roeder Boyd Hullett, who spoke on behalf of the applicant. His presentation included a site map that showed plans for nine residential buildings, a clubhouse, pool, courtyard and a playground.
Developers are planning to offer units with rents capped at 30% of the area median income, at 60% AMI and 70% AMI, Roeder said. At 30% AMI, a resident living in a one-bedroom apartment could pay about $660 in monthly rent, according to his presentation.
McKinney has partnered with the NRP Group in the past on another apartment development called The Independence. The community, located at 2150 Collin McKinney Parkway, opened its first buildings in 2022 and also offers affordable units priced according to the AMI.
“This is a first-class apartment project,” Roeder said. “This is not a slum apartment project. This is built to the same standard as every other first-class developer will do.”
More information
The McKinney Housing Finance Corporation board selected the NRP Group in December 2024 for future development of affordable housing through a public-private partnership. Over the course of 2025, a site was identified and selected for the development, Roeder said.
“This site meets all those parameters, and we’re in the process now of annexing it,” he said.
What they’re saying
During public comment, Stephanie Weyenberg, who also lives on Baxter Well Road, said the road was “not capable of supporting a multifamily development.”
“The infrastructure simply does not exist in order to approve high density on Baxter Well Road,” she said. “It’s great to hear that the developer will build infrastructure adjacent to its property but this is why it’s so problematic for Baxter Well; because there will be no developers to build the majority of the road.”
Developers are planning for two entrances to the community on FM 1461 and Baxter Well Road, Roeder said. The annexation agreement for the property includes terms for the developers to make improvements to Baxter Well Road from FM 1461 to the western property line. Improvements will also include adding a left-turn lane on FM 1461.
What council members are saying
Cloutier said change is coming to the area with the planned US 380 bypass expected to run just south of Baxter Well Road.
“With the state laws that make it so that we can’t annex anymore unless it’s voluntary, it is going to come slower, and it is going to jagged,” Cloutier said. “It is going to be weird. and I don’t necessarily envy you if you bought a house to retire up there because it is going to change up there.”
He said the development was a “good project” for the city that will generate “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in parkland dedication fees, which are used to fund park projects.
Council member Justin Beller said he was excited about the project and that he thinks it adds to McKinney. He said the development, which will be located near a future recreation center, was a “perfect fit” in preparing for the future US 380 bypass that will come through the area.
“We expect this to be right in the core of where the future of McKinney is,” he said. “This fits with what that’s going to look like.”
