Last week, I attended a local real estate association meeting where Plano City Council Member Vidal Quintanilla presented an update on the city and several of its major development projects.
The individual projects were impressive, but one statistic helped put all of them into context: Plano is approximately 97% built out.
For most of its modern history, Plano’s growth was easy to see. Open land became subdivisions. New roads led to new shopping centers, schools and corporate campuses. Families moved north, bought newly constructed homes and became part of a rapidly expanding city.
That era is largely over.
Plano can continue growing, but it has relatively little undeveloped land left on which to build. Its future will increasingly depend on taking something that already exists—an aging shopping center, an obsolete office campus, an underused commercial property or an older house—and preparing it for another generation.
Plano’s next era will be an era of redevelopment.
From Expansion to Reinvention
Development and redevelopment may produce similar finished products, but they begin from very different places.
Traditional development starts with open land. Roads and utilities are extended, buildings are constructed and residents arrive after much of the work is complete.
Redevelopment starts inside an established community. The roads, neighborhoods, businesses and residents are already there. Existing buildings may need to be demolished or substantially renovated. Aging underground systems like water, electric, and sewage might need to be replaced. Traffic patterns may change. New uses must be integrated into areas that were designed decades earlier for different purposes.
Plano is now seeing that process at several prominent locations.
The former Collin Creek Mall is becoming a major mixed-use community with residences, retail, restaurants, offices, parks, hotel rooms and senior housing. The approximately $1 billion project is transforming a traditional enclosed mall into a new district intended to function as a place to live, work and gather.
Assembly Park has converted an aging retail property into a combination of office space, restaurants, retail, apartments, parks and trails.
Beacon Square is replacing a former corporate campus with a large mixed-use development that includes multifamily housing, with additional office, retail and park space planned in future phases.
The Almanac at Haggard Farm is planned to bring offices, retail, a boutique hotel, green space, apartments and townhomes to approximately 130 acres near the Dallas North Tollway.
Downtown Plano continues to add residences, events and amenities while preparing for the impact of the DART Silver Line.
The most visible proposal may be the Willow Bend District. The City of Plano and the Dallas Stars are exploring a potential $3 billion redevelopment of The Shops at Willow Bend, anchored by a multipurpose arena that could become the Stars’ future home. The proposal remains subject to additional studies, negotiations, public input and final agreements, but its scale illustrates how dramatically an aging property can be reconsidered.
These projects are not isolated. Together, they represent a fundamental change in how Plano will grow.
Plano’s Homes Are Aging, Too
Redevelopment is not limited to malls and corporate campuses.
Council Member Quintanilla also discussed the age of Plano’s housing. The city’s two largest groups of homes are those that are more than 45 years old and those that are approximately 25 to 45 years old.
That means a large portion of Plano’s housing stock has reached—or is approaching—the stage when reinvestment becomes necessary.
A well-built home can remain useful for many generations, but its major components do not last forever. Homes in these age ranges may need substantial work involving:
- Roofs and HVAC systems
- Plumbing and electrical components
- Foundations and drainage
- Windows and insulation
- Kitchens and bathrooms
- Flooring, paint and other finishes
- Floor plans designed for an earlier generation
This does not mean older homes are undesirable. In many cases, they offer larger lots, established trees, mature neighborhoods and access to respected schools and amenities. Those qualities are difficult for new construction to reproduce.
But an older home must still compete with newer housing.
That competition will become more visible as Plano adds modern apartments, townhomes and mixed-use communities with updated finishes, walkable amenities and nearby entertainment. Location will remain important, but owners cannot assume that a Plano address alone will overcome deferred maintenance or an outdated property.
For homeowners, redevelopment may mean making improvements that allow a house to serve the next generation.
For rental-property owners, it may mean deciding which upgrades are necessary to protect the property, attract qualified tenants and remain competitive with newer alternatives.
For the city, it means preserving successful neighborhoods while helping aging housing and infrastructure adapt to changing needs.
Redevelopment Is More Than New Construction
It would be easy to view these projects primarily as construction activity. The larger issue is what kind of community Plano wants to become as it matures.
A city that is nearly built out still needs ways to:
- Add housing
- Attract and retain employers
- Support restaurants and retailers
- Replace obsolete buildings
- Maintain aging infrastructure
- Create places for residents to gather
- Remain accessible to future generations
Redevelopment allows Plano to accommodate new residents and economic activity without relying on large amounts of undeveloped land. It can place housing closer to employment, shopping, transportation and entertainment. It can also return underperforming property to productive use.
But successful redevelopment requires more than replacing old buildings with new ones. It requires thoughtful decisions about density, traffic, infrastructure, affordability, housing types and the relationship between new projects and established neighborhoods.
Those decisions will shape Plano for decades.
The Next Version of Plano
Plano is not finished growing. It is beginning to grow differently.
The city’s first major growth cycle was about creating something new: new neighborhoods, new schools, new roads, new shopping centers and new employment districts.
The next cycle will be about renewal.
Some of that renewal will happen through billion-dollar projects that transform familiar landmarks. Some will happen one house at a time as owners repair, renovate and modernize aging properties. Both forms of investment will determine whether Plano remains attractive and competitive for the people who live here today and those who may want to live here tomorrow.
When a city is 97% built out, almost every major development decision becomes a redevelopment decision.
The question is no longer simply where Plano will grow.
It is how Plano will renew what it has already built.
This is Part 1 of “Plano’s Next Chapter,” a series examining redevelopment, changing demographics, the challenges of transition and what these changes may mean for the local housing and rental markets.
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