{"id":476220,"date":"2026-10-25T10:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T10:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/476220\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T10:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T10:54:08","slug":"car-centric-dallas-suburbs-are-investing-in-quaint-walkable-downtowns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/476220\/","title":{"rendered":"Car-centric Dallas suburbs are investing in quaint, walkable downtowns"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Leah\u00a0Holden moved to a loft apartment in Frisco\u2019s historic downtown<\/a> two months ago, she felt like she had stepped into an episode of \u201cGilmore Girls.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Characters in the idyllic early 2000s television show regularly pass musicians busking in the town square as they walk to the diner where they know all their fellow patrons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In downtown Frisco<\/a>, Holden and her boyfriend run into neighbors on walks to get pistachio lattes and pints at Rollertown Beerworks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/p>\n

A band takes the stage during the official opening of the redeveloped downtown area, The Rail District, In Frisco, Texas, Tuesday, October 13, 2026.<\/p>\n

Anja Schlein\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n

Her new apartment is just four miles from her old neighborhood near The Star, which boasts The Dallas Cowboys<\/a>\u2019 training facility and ritzy shops, restaurants and offices. The area was walkable, but its proximity to the Dallas North Tollway limited how far she could go.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t get the small town in a big town feel we were looking for,\u201d Holden, 25, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As population explodes north of Dallas and shiny, modern developments crop up along major highways, Collin County<\/a> cities are trying to recapture their small-town charm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Collin<\/p>\n

Collin County was the second-fastest growing county in the nation between 2024 and 2025, according to the U.S. Census. For residents, that means worse evening rush hour traffic northbound on Highway 75 as pictured in McKinney, Texas, Thursday evening, October 16, 2026.<\/p>\n

Anja Schlein\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n

Frisco inaugurated its revamped downtown earlier this month after more than two years of construction and Celina<\/a>, Anna<\/a> and Allen<\/a> are all in the process of remaking their downtowns into walkable neighborhoods. They follow trendsetters Plano<\/a> and McKinney<\/a> that undertook downtown revitalization projects years ago.<\/p>\n

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For all four cities, redeveloping downtown is a study in contradictions \u2014 creating walkability while providing ample parking in a car-centric region, embracing gentle density where strip malls and sprawl are the norm and preserving history as cities race to meet the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Something \u2018Austin-y\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Much of Frisco\u2019s original downtown burned down in a 1920s fire<\/a>, but the city chose a railroad theme for the redeveloped downtown as a nod to its history as an outpost of the St. Louis \u2014 San Francisco Railway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the 4th Street Plaza, you can sit on black benches modeled after the wheels of railroad cars. A curved, red structure resembling a train track floats above, providing shade. The city used clay brick pavers as opposed to concrete.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe clay brick never fades,\u201d said Stan Cowan, a landscape architect with the firm MESA that \u00a0worked on the project. \u201cIt will be a legacy project.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the plaza, the city also removed angled parking from Main Street, widened sidewalks and built a five-story parking garage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During more than two years of construction, several downtown businesses lost customers while others closed their doors. The city offered grants and gift cards<\/a> to help support downtown stores. Now that the project is complete, city officials and business owners are hoping the revitalization draws residents back downtown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Developer Donny Churchman<\/a>, who bought commercial property in the Rail District eight years ago, believes walkable downtowns fulfill a need for community that suburbanites crave. But he acknowledged the need to provide parking downtown while maintaining the coveted \u201csmall-town feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Chad Patton, co-founder of CAP Realty, which owns the building\u00a0Holden lives in and three others downtown, wants to contribute to that small-town feel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFrisco’s kind of a corporate place, and now they’ve got this thing that’s a little quirky, a little Austin-y,\u201d Patton said. \u201cThere’s so much desire to be a part of something like that, rather than to live at the corner of the highway with 400 other units.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building around the square \u00a0<\/p>\n

Downtown Celina is steeped in history, Anthony Satarino<\/a>, president of the city\u2019s economic development corporation, said in his office overlooking the town square. The office still has a tin roof circa the early 1900s, and used to be a bank \u2013 one that Bonnie and Clyde planned to rob in the 1930s, rumor has it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Back then, the square was a commercial hub in Collin County, with grocers, feed stores, car showrooms and more. It\u2019s one of the only cities in Texas that has a square, though it is not home to a historic county courthouse like Denton or McKinney.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The town has since rocketed to become the\u00a0nation\u2019s fastest-growing city<\/a> as per 2025 Census numbers. Currently home to about 64,000 residents, Celina will eventually be bigger than Frisco; its population at buildout is expected to be 350,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Celina booms, the city is working to attract big-box retail<\/a> along Preston Road and offices along the Dallas North Tollway expansion, modern developments that will keep residential taxes low. But city leaders wanted to make sure downtown was not left behind.<\/p>\n

The city has spent more than $93 million to enlarge the town square, build a parking garage and a new facility with city offices and a library. The garage is complete and the city buildings are expected to open early next year. Satarino said those projects will help the downtown economy thrive, beyond existing restaurants and stores that are busier on evenings and weekends.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat keeps daytime population here,\u201d Satarino said, \u201cwhich is critical for us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Donny<\/p>\n

Donny Churchman, a developer who is building a mixed-use project poses in downtown Celina, Texas, Thursday, October 8, 2026.<\/p>\n

Anja Schlein\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s economic development corporation has provided incentives to developers to bring more offices and shops to the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Churchman is also developing an area at the edge of downtown Celina, by the train tracks. His $15 million project includes a building with commercial space on the first floor and residential above it. He hopes it will give small business owners \u201can opportunity to live where they work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know it\u2019s going to be a big city,\u201d Churchman said of Celina. \u201cBut think of the Fourth of July parades \u2026 That’s a real nostalgic feeling and I believe when downtowns are done right in large suburbs, they’ll always feel like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recreating history in Allen and Anna<\/p>\n

In Allen and Anna, city leaders are in the early stages of revitalizing downtowns that currently don\u2019t see a lot of foot traffic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Allen is investing downtown later in its growth trajectory, like Frisco. Its original downtown also suffered a fire, which destroyed several historic structures in 1915.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A\"Main<\/p>\n

In Allen, city leaders are in the early stages of $17 million project to revitalize downtown.<\/p>\n

Anja Schlein\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n

In Allen, city leaders are in the early stages of $17 million project to revitalize downtown.<\/p>\n

Anja Schlein\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n

A $17 million project will turn the city\u2019s old fire station into a space for restaurants, revitalize an old public library and create a pocket park with a performance stage. Construction on the 18,000-square-foot project will begin later this year, according to city officials. Allen is partnering with a developer who previously worked on Assembly Park, a mixed-use project in Plano.\u00a0<\/p>\n

About 20 miles north of Allen, Anna\u2019s economic development corporation inked a $10 million deal to bring restaurants and a beer garden with space for live music performances downtown. A new City Hall and library were built where a granary once stood and there are plans to turn nearby Interurban Street into a pedestrian-only corridor.<\/p>\n

Anna was recently named the nation\u2019s fifth fastest-growing city<\/a>, per the U.S. Census. Preserving Anna\u2019s history while preparing for explosive growth<\/a> has been a challenge while redeveloping downtown, Anna\u2019s director of economic development Natasha Roach said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a group of residents who have been here for generations \u2026 they have very vivid memories of what downtown used to be,\u201d Roach said. \u201cBut then you have 34,000 other people who don’t know that story.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marquin Hunn, 61, is one of those long-time residents. She owns the Sherley Brothers store, a historic hardware store that has been downtown since 1894 and has been in her family for four generations. Over the years, the store has housed farm equipment, antiques and even hearses when morticians worked there. She plans to restore the building and open it to the public as a museum with a small shop attached.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hunn hopes her store and downtown will evoke the nostalgia of when Anna<\/a> was a town of 800 people and visitors from up and down Highway 5 would come to the store not just to buy tools, but to visit with her grandmother.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think about my family when they came from Kentucky and Virginia, and \u2026 settled in Collin County when it was nothing,\u201d Hunn said. \u201cI’m just trying to re-establish that simple lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Leah\u00a0Holden moved to a loft apartment in Frisco\u2019s historic downtown two months ago, she felt like she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,94256,110065,88338,92708],"class_list":["post-476220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-tp-allen","tag-tp-celina","tag-tp-collin-county","tag-tp-frisco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}