Collin County’s explosive growth is impossible to miss — and Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson isn’t mincing words about what it means for his city.
“I hope everybody who’s been watching the news this week understands that I wasn’t crying wolf,” Johnson told Dallas City Council Wednesday. “The wolf is not in this room, the wolf is up the tollway.”
The warning came as two of Dallas’s professional sports teams — the Stars and the Mavericks — announced plans to relocate, joining a wave of big businesses already heading north.
In McKinney, ribbon cuttings have become routine. Former Mayor George Fuller says that’s no accident.
“We have spent decades preparing this county, this city, this area, this region for the type of growth we’re seeing,” Fuller said at Wednesday’s ceremony. “It’s not about being a wolf, it’s about being prepared.”
That ceremony marked the opening of Shiloh Place McKinney, a new housing development with support services for single mothers.
But the competition extends well beyond housing and corporate relocations. Rising off US-75 in McKinney, the Sunset Amphitheater is emerging as one of the most visible symbols of Collin County’s ambitions.
At 20,000 seats, it rivals the size of the American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas, built specifically for live music.
Supporters say it’s exactly this kind of investment that’s drawing people away from Dallas and into Collin County.