There are brand-new roadways and freshly turned dirt. There are etches in the landscape where future water features may go, and in some spots, mint-condition houses have begun popping up from the ground.
The view is a snapshot of the state of north Frisco today – a landscape in the midst of metamorphosis.
In the not-too-distant future, that view will continue to evolve.
In January, the Frisco City Council made “North Frisco Activation” one of its top 10 priorities for 2024. The area’s placement on the list comes sandwiched between major plot points in Frisco’s history. In 2023, the complex at PGA Frisco opened its doors and then hosted a major tournament days later.
“It’s kind of the untold story of what the long-term impact will be of the PGA, is that it’s essentially going to kind of guarantee the premium projects to come on our side of 380,” Cheney said. “Prosper will certainly benefit as well, certainly the halo will extend further out. But it definitely kind of set our course in history as far as us being able to achieve what we really wanted to achieve in that part of our city.”
And now, Frisco is looking ahead to two years from now, when the World Cup will come to DFW for a whopping nine international soccer matches.
“And now it’s becoming a little cliche, it’s like everyone is targeting 2026, the World Cup, like ‘get open by 2026,’” Cheney said. “It is kind of nice to have that natural deadline. It kind of forces everyone to lean in, whether it’s the city making sure to get permits and approvals out, and everyone is pulling in the same direction to get a lot of these projects done.”
As the city of Frisco looks at its own goals for the future of its northern corridor, it has two main focuses. Listed as “success markers” within city documentation, the city is looking at roadway completions and development agreements as it prioritizes the activation of north Frisco.
On Wednesday, Feb. 28, the Frisco Enterprise joined Cheney on a trip around the northern Frisco area. One of the first stops was a visit to Panther Creek Parkway just off of the Dallas North Tollway. Soon, work will begin to create a six-lane divided roadway of Panther Creek Parkway from the tollway to Preston Road. Construction is slated to end in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to the city’s geographic information systems map.
“This will be open before Universal opens,” Cheney said, “so this is going to be a major connection point here.”
Work is also underway to expand the Dallas North Tollway. While not a city of Frisco project, the expansion will have an impact on Frisco traffic.
Work recently wrapped up on Legacy Drive between Panther Creek and PGA parkways. Cheney noted that the Fields developer built the roads.
“They wanted to do a nicer road than what we consider city standard,” Cheney said. “So the deal we made with them is we calculated what it would cost the city to do our standard road, and then that’s what we were willing to pay, and I think they ended up paying another $15 million because these light fixtures are designer light fixtures.”
He noted that mature trees were put into the medians and that there was a level of detail put into bridge development.
Another important factor in the area, Cheney noted, is that the trail network was designed before roadways were. As a result, trails have below-grade crossings.
“And so if you live in Hollyhock or any of these neighborhoods (…) you can get on a bike and get to any of these developments and not cross a single street,” he said.
While traveling down Fields Parkway, Cheney points out that the roads are being built from day one at full size and capacity.
“Usually we’ll come in, like Legacy would have been done at four lanes at first and then maybe a decade later you come back and expand it to six,” Cheney said. “With all the growth that we know is happening out here, we’re like, we just need to do it all in one shot.”
Roadway development is providing an infrastructure skeleton as major development projects move forward in North Frisco. The largest puzzle piece in that sector of the city is Fields, a 2,500-acre mixed-use development.
Cheney noted that it is rare to have one landowner own 2,500 acres.
“Otherwise you’re trying to put together a vision like this in 100- or 200- or 500-acre, you know, those landowners may have different visions,” Cheney said. “And so when we were able to do this as one cohesive zoning case, which was our biggest one ever, that definitely helped out. It would have been hard to put all this together if it would have been five or 10 landowners that owned all this land.”
The major development will bookend that portion of the city, Cheney said.
Plans include development of North Fields, where a 673-unit multifamily development is under construction, and which includes plans for sister ponds. There are also plans for restaurants and retail in the area.
On the other side of the golf courses at PGA Frisco is The Preserve. Cheney points out that development in the area is embracing the hilltop topography that comes with the landscape rather than cutting it away.
“For high-end kind of custom neighborhoods, they either want trees, water or terrain,” Cheney said. “They certainly didn’t have to do that, but you’re not going to get the level of homes that you would have otherwise.”
Cheney noted that there has been an interest in attracting Fortune-500-type companies.
“So we need C-Suite housing in our community, and so it doesn’t get much better than this as far as attracting C-Suite type housing,” he said.
South of Fields Parkway is the Brookside neighborhood. Lots in Brookside North are slated to be delivered this summer, Cheney said. Brookside South, for the most part, will see homes valued at $1-2 million while homes in Brookside North will be at about $1.5-2.5 million, Cheney said.
Cheney noted that the Brookside neighborhood will feature shared community spaces dispersed throughout the area. That includes a $14 million amenity center, he said.
Work on other portions of the Fields development is also underway — horizontal work has begun on Fields West, slated to be a “sister” development to Legacy West in Plano. Ground broke late last year on Universal Kids Resort, and a retaining wall promised to the Cobb Hill neighborhood across the street has been put into place.
While Fields presents a large piece of the puzzle in north Frisco, other developments will shape the northern sector’s future.
Firefly Park will be located northwest of the Dallas North Tollway and PGA Parkway. The 230-acre mixed-use development is slated to include 5 million square feet of office space; 2,200 luxury residential units, a 200-room Dream Hotel and 380,000 square feet of retail space. Plans also include a music hall, outdoor amphitheater, food and beverage venues and a 40-acre green belt, according to the city of Frisco website. The first phase of development is planned to open in 2026.
The city of Frisco is also in the midst of developing its own projects. Work is underway on Northwest Community Park, a now $40 million park near the intersection of Panther Creek and Teel parkways that is slated to include bike park features, a discovery garden, a splash pad, amphitheater lawn, dog park, adventure playground and picnic lawn. There are hopes to build the park so that it can host 5K events.
On Wednesday, Cheney pointed out the tree line where Northwest Community Park will begin.
“So kind of what this whole part of the city is going to be known for is, I mean, there is going to a blend of some dense development like Legacy West but then these wide-open park spaces.So it’s a really cool mixture of both,” Cheney said. “Where else in the country could you take your bike and do the mountain bike trail and then have lunch at Fields West?”
Cheney pointed out the nearby location of Frisco on the Green Park, a three-acre site near Teel Parkway with plans for a more natural habitat feel.
Both Frisco on the Green and Northwest Community Park draw inspiration from the nearby PGA of America. The city of Frisco website states that Frisco on the Green Park was named for its proximity to the PGA headquarters, and Parks and Recreation Director Shannon Coates has previously said that welcoming the PGA served as a catalyst for the Northwest Community Park project.
The city parks are not the only developments that have been impacted by the PGA.
“When you land a project like a PGA, then it’s making sure you’re taking advantage of that asset to kind of maximize the highest and best use for everything that’s around it,” Cheney said.
He uses the example of The Link, a 244-acre mixed-use addition to PGA Frisco that is slated to include a mix of Class A office, destination retail, luxury residential, boutique hospitality, entertainment and sports-focused wellness uses.
“If you go look at the shape of The Link, as an example, it’s an odd-shaped property,” Cheney said. “So try to imagine what may have gone there had the PGA not gone where it did.”
Perhaps an industrial use or single-story office, he said.
“It would have probably been limited uses, but now because of the PGA, it’s going to be a billion-dollar development.”
As Frisco looks ahead to its future, the city is taking steps to prioritize what the story of its northern sector will look like as private development continues.
“We’re doing our part,” Cheney said. “We’re putting the roads and infrastructure in. We’ve given healthy incentive agreements to make sure they’re a success and they build to a high quality. We were thoughtful in our zoning approach to have an appropriate level of density.”
And development agreements are performance-based, Cheney notes, meaning incentives are not paid until the projects deliver.
With its location between State Highway 121 and US 380, Frisco is the bullseye in the path of growth.
“It is coming whether you want it or not,” Cheney said, “and so it’s then how do you control to get the quality of developments that you want rather than just development for development’s sake.”
