McKinney

Spend a few moments in Historical McKinney, and it’s easy to see how proud this town is of its past. “It’s almost like a tourist town. We’re the second-largest historic district in the state of Texas,” says local Realtor Debbie Barch with Ebby Halliday. “It’s a tourist attraction, but it’s also a place where people can still walk the streets. It’s a safe community.” And as you walk the streets, you’ll find historic buildings housing iconic local businesses that have served the community for decades. Courthouses and schoolhouses have been repurposed, now serving as museums and performance centers, informing and entertaining the community. <br><br>Historical McKinney is split between residential neighborhoods and the historic downtown area. This neighborhood has plenty of historic homes, ranging from Craftsman to Folk Victorian styles. Large front porches are common, perfect for sitting outside and enjoying a warm evening or gathering with friends and family. Most of the neighborhood is laid out in a grid formation with small city blocks full of large, shady trees. The area has few sidewalks, but everything is close by, and the quiet streets are still walkable. There are some newer subdivisions along the edges of the neighborhood where you can find new traditional brick homes with built-in garages. <br><br>There is a wide range of home prices in Historical McKinney. You can find modest ranch-style homes with three bedrooms for $375,000. Or you can pay up to $1.5 million for a historic farmhouse in the center of town. Most homes tend to be between $400,000 and $600,000.<br><br>The historic downtown is the center of the neighborhood. Walk along the brick roads, and you’ll pass by local shops and restaurants that are stalwarts of the community. Everything centers around the McKinney Performing Arts Center in the former Collin County Courthouse. This cultural district hosts town events like art and wine festivals, Fourth of July parades and Oktoberfest celebrations. Stop in Rick’s Chophouse for an upscale meal in a classic Historical McKinney eatery. Complete with leather chairs, wood paneling and historical photos, you’ll feel the charm when you step foot in the restaurant. Locals enjoy the prime rib, lobster and escargot, but you can’t go wrong with any dish.<br><br>Residents can enjoy the outdoors at several local parks, the largest of which is Towne Lake Park. Along with its namesake lake, this park is also home to sand volleyball courts, horseshoe courts and baseball fields. Cast a line from the fishing pier and enjoy the serenity of the water or play a round of disc golf on the 18-hole course known for its long fairways and plenty of trees. Finch Park is a serene green space with an exciting playground, lighted basketball courts, a tennis court and pickleball courts. <br><br>Students might attend Caldwell Elementary School, Faubion Middle School and McKinney High School. McKinney High is a highly rated school that receives an A overall from Niche, with high grades for its college prep and clubs. The school offers an athletic training program for students, allowing them to learn the basics of sports medicine in a hands-on environment. Students intern with the school’s athletic training staff and work with one sport each semester. The school also has a club ice hockey team, which participates in the AT&T Metroplex High School Hockey League.<br><br>Chain stores and restaurants line the major highways that run through the neighborhood. You can stock up on groceries at the local WinCo Foods or Kroger. The nearby highways like Routes 75 and 380 give you an easy commute throughout North Texas.

An award-winning master-planned community in the rapidly growing suburb of McKinney, Craig Ranch was designed to optimize the lives of North Texas families. Here, over 400 acres of green space connect throughout the neighborhood via running and biking trails to TPC Craig Ranch, a private championship golf course that hosts the PGA Tour's AT&T Byron Nelson. Aside from being centered around a luxury golf course, Craig Ranch enhances lifestyle elements for every member of the family with convenience to local businesses, schools and medical centers. "My favorite part about living in this neighborhood is that it's very family-friendly," says resident Cati Cabra. "There are multiple schools and community centers within the neighborhoods surrounding the main shopping centers, so if there's good weather, you can count on seeing people outside spending time with their families." Students in Craig Ranch attend schools in the Frisco Independent School District, which received an overall grade of A-plus on the educational review site, Niche. They start with kindergarten through fourth grade at Comstock Elementary, which received an A-plus on Niche. Then, they continue to Wortham Intermedia School for fifth and sixth grade, which has yet to be rated on Niche as it just opened its doors in the fall of 2023. Seventh- and eighth-grade students attend the A-rated Scoggins Middle School before continuing to Emerson High School, which opened in August 2021 and has yet to be rated on Niche. Emerson High School was a $111 million construction resulting in a state-of-the-art building with academic, arts and athletic facilities and Frisco ISD's first storm shelter, which doubles as a gym and provides an area of refuge to the McKinney community. For private education, parents can enroll their children in the nearby Guidepost Montessori at Eldorado, which enrolls students ages 16 months through six years. TPC Craig Ranch is undeniably the neighborhood's elite green space, home to not only a championship golf course but also a clubhouse and chef-driven eateries. Accessing TPC Craig Ranch does require a membership, but residents who'd prefer to use a public green space still have plenty of options. The expansive Gabe Nesbitt Community Park serves the neighborhood's north end with various amenities, like baseball and softball fields, a tennis complex and a skatepark. Smaller parks are sprinkled throughout the neighborhood so that a playground and a picnic table are never far from home, and the neighborhood's south end is equipped with amenities like the K9 Corral dog park and Children's Health StarCenter, an indoor ice-skating rink with skating lessons, youth hockey programs and public skating hours. AT&T Byron Nelson and the Craig Ranch Community Association Held annually in May, AT&T Byron Nelson is easily the most significant event in the neighborhood; in 2022, it attracted an estimated 35,000 to 45,000 spectators and produced an economic impact of $55.4 million in North Texas. Throughout the year, however, residents can get to know their neighbors through events organized by the Craig Ranch Community Association, like yard sales, dog park meetups and community holiday celebrations. Craig Ranch residents can access almost any cuisine imaginable from a mix of locally-owned restaurants and chains. Residents enjoy authentic Indian food at Honest, elevated Tex-Mex at Mi Cocina and craft coffee at Duino. A diversity of cuisine is found not only in the neighborhood's restaurants but also in its grocery stores. In addition to having an ALDI, Kroger and every Texan's favorite grocery store, H-E-B, residents can shop for Indian groceries at Patel Brothers in McKinney Towne Crossing, which also has a Target, a movie theater and a Walmart across the street. Entirely developed in the 21st century, Craig Ranch has primarily new traditional single-family housing with brick facades and touches of limestone. Architectural influences vary, with some being Tudor-inspired and others Spanish-style, and some of the neighborhood's newer builds are hypermodern takes on traditionalism, often with white brick exteriors and black shingled roofs. Many Craig Ranch homes belong to single-family or townhouse communities, often equipped with shared amenities like water features, playgrounds and community pools. Neighborhood streets in Craig Ranch are idyllic and quintessentially suburban, with sidewalks lining tree-dotted, neatly mowed lawns. Properties tend to prioritize the home's square footage over lawn space, with houses taking up most of their lots to maximize room for growing families. Buyers should expect to spend between $450,000 and $800,000 for a three-bedroom home, with typically only townhouses selling for less than that and luxury new builds sometimes selling for more. The median price in Craig Ranch is about $435,000 for a townhouse and $630,000 for a single-family home. Sam Rayburn Tollway borders Craig Ranch to the south, connecting residents throughout the DFW metroplex and to the DFW Airport, 25 minutes away. Collin County has no public transportation system but provides on-demand shared rides to qualifying passengers. Several family physicians practice at facilities in the community, and Methodist McKinney Hospital is just across Eldorado at the neighborhood's northern edge. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, McKinney's population grew by nearly 20% between 2017 and 2022, and in 2020, it was the fourth-fastest-growing American city. Though the population growth has helped the area grow commercially, residents warn that it has affected traffic. "It's a rapidly growing area, so the traffic has become very heavy over the past couple of years," Cabra says. "It's difficult to get in and out of the neighborhoods and shopping centers unless you're at a traffic light."

Stonebridge Ranch offers the elegance of a master-planned community that's covered every detail. With nearly 20 miles of trails, pools, tennis courts, parks and lakes sprinkled throughout the McKinney, Texas neighborhood, there’s no shortage of natural beauty and recreational opportunities. Newcomers can expect a full social calendar from day one, with regular community events including bingo games and book clubs. “You know that you’re going to be in a beautiful community no matter what if you’re in Stonebridge,” says local Realtor Christy Oakes, a Managing Partner of the Kraft-Oakes Team at RE/MAX Four Corners. “The HOA there does an amazing job of maintaining the entire community to a very high level of pristine landscaping and water features and gardens.” Home seekers will find a wealth of traditional-style homes built from the 1990s to the modern day in Stonebridge Ranch. “Some are very elaborate, almost castle-like,” Oakes says. They typically feature brick or a mix of brick and stone exteriors with good-sized lots and plenty of mature oak trees amid neat landscaping. The sidewalk-lined streets meet up with spacious driveways leading to built-in garages. Houses are more expensive here than in the rest of McKinney, but they’re usually larger. Homebuyers can expect to find three-bedroom homes in the $400,000 range, while five-bedroom homes run upwards of $800,000. Students in Stonebridge Ranch may attend Earl & Lottie Wolford Elementary, Leonard Evans Jr. Middle and McKinney Boyd High. Part of the McKinney Independent School District, all three schools earn stellar A Niche grades. Home of the Broncos, McKinney Boyd High has a partnership with Collin College that allows students to earn college credits while still in high school. The Stonebridge Ranch Community Association pulls out all the stops for residents, providing them with recreational opportunities and gorgeous outdoor areas. The Stonebridge Ranch Beach Club is among the most popular, with an artificial beach surrounding a swimming lagoon and views of Stonebridge Lake. Just down the hill, there are eight tennis courts for residents looking for a friendly game. The public Serenity Park on Berkshire Drive offers paved walking trails, a playground and a pond with a fishing pier. The Clubs of Stonebridge Ranch has served as a community gathering spot since the late 1980s. It offers members two championship courses designed by legendary golf architects Pete Dye and Arthur Hills, upscale dining and pristine swimming pools. The 18-hole Pete Dye Signature Course has been named one of the best in the nation by Golf Digest. Across the street, there’s the 27-hole Hills Course with a Southwestern-style clubhouse awaiting at the end for drinks and dining. Residents have several nearby grocery options, including Tom Thumb on Virginia Parkway and Market Street on Eldorado Parkway. And the neighborhood’s central location gives locals plenty of dining options. “You have access to any restaurant you want within 10 minutes,” Oakes says. “In Frisco, Plano, McKinney, there’s nothing you can’t find in those areas.” Some nearby favorites are located in Adriatica Village, a 45-acre Croation-style village in the middle of the Stonebridge Ranch development. Locals can head to Cavalli Pizzeria for wood-fired Neapolitan pizza and then stroll a few doors down to Zin Zen Wine Bistro for after-dinner drinks. The village also hosts boutique shops and live music venues. Stonebridge Ranch is conveniently located less than 10 miles from three hospitals — Methodist McKinney Hospital on Eldorado Parkway, Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – McKinney, on West University Drive and Medical City McKinney on Medical Center Drive. Downtown Dallas is an easy 35-mile trip south on U.S. 75. And to get away from it all Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is 32 miles away via Sam Rayburn Tollway South.