🌮 Frisco is finally getting a Trader Joe's

Hey neighbor 👋 Welcome to Taco & Tell, your weekly rundown of what's opening, what's being built, and what local government decided in Prosper, Celina, Frisco, Little Elm, and McKinney. We read the city council agendas so you don't have to.

The big one: Trader Joe's is coming to Frisco 🛒

Frisco is getting its first Trader Joe's. On Oct. 6 the City Council unanimously approved the project at the southwest corner of Main Street and Majestic Gardens Drive. The nearly 10-acre plan pairs the store with a 158-unit senior living community for active, independent older adults.

If this sounds familiar, it's because the project has been under review for more than two years. The city's planning commission approved a revised version in July, and the council put off its vote in August to allow more discussion. Now it's officially approved.

Before you plan your first grocery run: the developer hasn't announced a construction timeline or picked a builder. One interesting rule is that both pieces have to be built at the same time, and the senior living building can't open until the Trader Joe's is operating, so the store comes first.

Why it matters: If you live in east Frisco or west McKinney, you've probably been driving to Plano or Allen for your Trader Joe's fix. That drive should eventually get a lot shorter. We'll let you know when shovels actually hit the dirt.

Frisco

The Rail District party runs through Saturday 🎉

Frisco opened its new Fourth Street Plaza and the five-story parking garage downtown with a ribbon cutting and a drone show Tuesday night, and the free celebration keeps going all week at 8802 4th St. Tonight (Wednesday) the Frisco Improv Players do a family-friendly show from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday is Glow in the Dark Yoga on the plaza lawn, with check-in at 7 p.m. and no registration needed. Friday the Patrick Casey Band plays from 7 to 9 p.m., and Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m. there's a free hands-on art activity for all ages plus live music. The city suggests parking in the new garage. Next up downtown: the Community Parade on Saturday, Nov. 14.

Haldiram's picks Frisco for its first U.S. restaurant 🍛

If you've seen Haldiram's snacks in the grocery aisle, the brand now has a full restaurant here. It opened Sunday, Oct. 11, at 7010 Preston Road, Suite 240, in a 110-seat space serving chaat, thalis, and other Indian street food, with a sweets counter and packaged snacks to take home. The company dates back to 1937 in India, and Frisco is its first restaurant in the United States, which says a lot about how big a food destination the city has become.

A Stonebriar mall plan gets pulled, and a new neighborhood moves ahead

A proposal for three restaurant buildings and an upper-level walkway next to Nordstrom at Stonebriar Centre never got a vote at Monday's planning commission meeting. City staff had recommended denying it until fire-lane and utility problems were fixed, and the applicant asked to withdraw it. There's no word on when or whether it comes back. In the same meeting, commissioners approved early plans for Crestmont by Sobha, a 25.6-acre neighborhood at Hillcrest Road and PGA Parkway with 24 single-family lots and 65 patio home lots. That land is outside city limits, so it still depends on the council agreeing to annex it. These results come from preliminary minutes.

Frisco picks a plan for its own animal shelter 🐾

After years of debate over cost and whether neighbors should chip in, the Frisco City Council agreed at an Oct. 6 work session to pursue a roughly 18,100-square-foot animal shelter with 91 kennels. It's estimated at about $24 million to build, with yearly operating costs around $1.29 million, and a nonprofit rescue group would help run it. The council passed on a smaller 60-kennel option and a bigger regional shelter shared with Prosper, McKinney and Celina. This is still a proposal, not a final vote, and the clock is ticking: Frisco's current shelter agreement with Collin County ends in November 2028.

More apartments coming to Hall Park

Hall Park announced Oct. 7 that it's getting ready to break ground on Terra Residences, a 105-apartment building inside the 162-acre office and mixed-use campus off the Dallas North Tollway. Construction is expected to start this fall and finish in fall 2028, with studios up to three-bedroom units. It sits near Kaleidoscope Park, so if you've been to a concert or food truck night there, this is the next neighbor.

Prosper

1902 is now open downtown 🥩

A new restaurant called 1902 opened Oct. 6 at 209 W. Broadway, in the building that used to be the Prosper Wine House. For now it's dinner only on the first floor, with steaks and Tex-Mex fusion. The rooftop, brunch and lunch, and a second-floor speakeasy called Mary Ann's are coming later with no date yet. The name is a nod to the year Prosper was founded. With The Gin right across the street, that block of Broadway is turning into a real evening spot.

A new shopping and dining center is cleared at Frontier Parkway

The Town Council approved a development agreement for Frontier Gateway, a 12-building project with restaurants, shops and offices on 34.6 acres at the southwest corner of Frontier Parkway and Dallas Parkway. Over months of review, the developer swapped a planned big-box store for two buildings with shops downstairs and offices upstairs, and traded a corner pharmacy for more restaurant space. It'll be built in two phases. No tenants, groundbreaking date or opening timeline have been announced.

Water bill rules and late-night drinks were on Tuesday's agenda

The Town Council was set to vote Oct. 13 on a rewrite of Prosper's water billing and shutoff rules, the first major update since 2006 and 2015. The draft spells out eight kinds of water theft, like tampering with a meter or turning service back on after a shutoff, with fines up to $2,000. A second item would write the town's long-standing practice on alcohol into code: sales end at midnight Sunday through Friday and 1 a.m. on Saturday nights, and Prosper won't allow later hours. We haven't seen the final vote yet and will confirm it next week.

Warehouses are about to go up on West Prosper Trail

State filings show construction on Prosper Flex Park, four warehouse buildings totaling about 154,000 square feet at 621 W. Prosper Trail, is scheduled to start Thursday, Oct. 15, and wrap up in July 2027. The estimated cost is about $13.9 million. No tenants have been named. If you drive Prosper Trail, expect construction traffic.

McKinney

The new airport terminal is almost ready ✈️

McKinney's new passenger terminal is still on track to open Nov. 11. On Oct. 5 the City Council approved the contracts for the terminal's coffee shop and food stands, which will feature local businesses, plus an Enterprise rental car counter. Avelo Airlines will start with Las Vegas and four Florida cities, then add Denver, Atlanta, Nashville, and New Orleans in mid-December. For a lot of you, that could mean skipping the drive to DFW or Love Field.

A two-year rebuild of downtown-area streets starts in November 🚧

If you live or shop near downtown McKinney, this one's for you. The city will fully rebuild Tennessee, Lamar, Hunt and part of Kentucky streets, including the water, sewer and drainage lines underneath, plus new sidewalks, lighting and landscaping. The council approved a contract of up to $12.95 million on Oct. 5, work starts in November, and the city expects it to take more than two years. You can hear the schedule and ask the contractor questions at a public meeting Monday, Oct. 19, at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 401 E. Virginia St.

Celina

A big idea for the old grain silos

Celina's economic development team owns about 32 acres near downtown, where the old grain silos stand, and has sketched out a plan for a brewery, food halls, a hotel, and shops along the creek. City Council got a first look this week. This is still an idea, not a done deal, but if it happens it could turn downtown Celina into a real destination.

1418 Coffee opens a second Celina shop ☕

Locally owned 1418 Coffee is opening its second standalone Celina location at Celina Station, 565 S. Preston Road. The Celina Chamber of Commerce will hold a ribbon cutting there on Wednesday, Oct. 21, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. If you live on the Preston Road side of town, your morning coffee just got closer.

Chicken Salad Chick has plans on Frontier Parkway

A state construction filing shows plans for a Chicken Salad Chick at 220 W. Frontier Parkway, Suite 100, with a $400,000 interior build-out scheduled from Jan. 5 to March 21, 2027. There's no opening date and no official announcement yet, so think of this as an early heads-up rather than a sure thing.

Little Elm

A Culver's may finally fill that empty corner 🍔

Culver's wants to build a drive-thru restaurant at the southeast corner of Little Elm Parkway and East Eldorado Parkway. The town zoned that corner last year for a Waffle House and a Swig, but both backed out. The plan shows one building of about 4,400 square feet with a patio and a two-lane drive-thru. The planning commission holds a public hearing tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 15, and the Town Council is scheduled to take it up Nov. 17. Butter burgers and frozen custard might finally be headed your way.

Townhomes and a Montessori school near Eldorado and Oak Grove

A plan for 150 townhomes and a Montessori school on about 21 acres northwest of West Eldorado Parkway and Oak Grove Parkway was on Tuesday's Town Council agenda. Town staff asked the council to delay the vote until Nov. 3, saying the developer's revised site plan still didn't meet town standards. When the planning commission reviewed it in June, neighbors' concerns included building height, windows facing existing homes, and traffic. We'll confirm what the council did next week.

Little Elm High School's next round of construction

Little Elm ISD registered a $53 million second phase of work at Little Elm High School with the state on Oct. 13. It adds about 28,900 square feet, including an auto shop for career and technical classes, art classrooms, and band halls, and renovates about 104,800 square feet, including a new kitchen and cafeteria and a cosmetology program area. The estimated schedule runs from January 2027 to August 2029, though dates in these filings can change.

Your Nov. 3 ballot, explained 🗳️

Early voting runs Monday, Oct. 19, through Friday, Oct. 30, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, with polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Collin County's $817.5 million bond

If you live in the Collin County part of any of our five cities, you'll see four separate county propositions, and you can vote yes or no on each one. Each carries the words "THIS IS A TAX INCREASE," because the borrowing would be repaid through property taxes.

Prop A, $296.5 million: courts and jail space, including finishing 15 unfinished courtrooms.
Prop B, $475 million: non-toll roads and bridges, the biggest piece. Possible projects mentioned include service roads along the Dallas North Tollway.
Prop C, $6 million: parks and open space.
Prop D, $40 million: a building for elections and county records. The county currently pays about $650,000 a year to lease that space.

Separately, a Collin College proposition asks voters to approve $600 million for campus improvements.

McKinney ISD: a tax rate election plus a $500 million bond

McKinney ISD voters have five propositions. Prop A is a voter-approval tax rate election, which is not a building bond. It's about day-to-day money for teacher pay, staffing, student programs, and transportation, and the district says it would bring in about $4.1 million a year after money sent back to the state. The district says that without it, programs like fine arts, athletics, and career classes could face cuts. Props B through E add up to a $500 million bond for school renovations, safety and security, technology, new schools and buses, pool repairs, and stadium turf and track. The district says its total tax rate will still be about 3.8 cents lower than last year even if everything passes.

Weekend plans 🎃

DFW Fall Fest, Frisco: Saturday, Oct. 17, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Frisco Fresh Market, 9215 John W. Elliott Drive. Pumpkin decorating, a petting zoo, and stage shows. It's free, but organizers ask you to reserve a ticket. Details
LC Rocks at Little Elm Park: Saturday, Oct. 17, 7 to 9 p.m. at 701 W. Eldorado Parkway, an '80s tribute band by the lake. The Lakefront District also has a Halloween party bike and bar crawl Friday through Sunday. Details
Hometown Harvest Fair, Prosper: Saturday, Oct. 17, 4 to 8 p.m. at Frontier Park, 1551 Frontier Parkway, with music, games, and treats. Details
Frisco Margarita Festival: Saturday, Oct. 17, noon to 5 p.m. at Rollertown Beerworks, 6450 Main St. Tickets include ten small margarita samples from Frisco bars and restaurants, and you vote for the best one. It's 21 and up, and tickets are sold in advance. Details

New and coming soon 👀

85C Bakery Cafe (Prosper, 5720 W. University Dr.) is in a soft opening through Nov. 6, open Thursday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Pho Republic (Frisco, 2525 Main St.) soft-opened Oct. 8 serving Vietnamese comfort food.
Ono Hawaiian BBQ (McKinney, 4610 W. University Dr.) opened Oct. 2. It's the chain's second Texas location, after Plano.
Spices Of India has filed plans for a 15,600-square-foot grocery store and restaurant at 4058 W. University Dr. in McKinney's Ft. Buckner Shopping Center. Construction is scheduled to start Oct. 15 and run to April 2027, with no opening date yet. Read more
Cork & Growler (Prosper, 201 W. Frontier Pkwy.) had planned to open Oct. 9 but pushed it back, and there's no new date yet.

Dates to know 📅

Oct. 15: Little Elm planning commission hears the Culver's plan.
Oct. 19: McKinney street rebuild meeting at City Hall, 6 p.m.
Oct. 19–30: Early voting.
Oct. 21: 1418 Coffee ribbon cutting at Celina Station.
Oct. 24: Drug Take Back Day in Little Elm, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Public Safety Building, 88 W. Eldorado Parkway.
Oct. 27: Prosper Town Council is expected to take up The Marco again.
Nov. 3: Election Day.
Nov. 11: McKinney's airport terminal opens.

That's it for this week. See you next Monday!

— Taco & Tell