Hugs Café has met a fundraising challenge that lets it keep the loan half of a McKinney sales tax award without paying it back, according to an update the nonprofit will give the McKinney Community Development Corp. board at 8 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 19.
In June, the board awarded Hugs Café Inc. $683,467 to expand Hugs Greenhouse, splitting the money evenly between a grant and a loan. Under the terms described in Hugs' presentation, the loan would convert to a grant if the group raised the other half in new donations.
The nonprofit says it has now secured $341,733.50: $300,000 from an anonymous donor and $41,733.50 from the Meadows Foundation. The presentation also lists a $35,000 gift from the Hillcrest Foundation.
Hugs Café's stated mission is to train and employ adults with special needs, and the board's agenda summary describes the café and greenhouse as places for competitively paid jobs on an "ability-conscious career pathway."
Behind schedule
The greenhouse work is not moving as fast as planned. Hugs reports the project is about 45% complete, with construction slowed first by drafting and signing the contract and then by greenhouse parts the supplier has not delivered. The expansion includes a propagation house, more growing space, a better roadway, an electric gate and rolling barn doors.
The current timeline calls for the greenhouses and roadway to be finished between November and February, with the site running for the spring season by March. Hugs says it has used $2,200 of its contingency so far. It has hired a greenhouse assistant manager and plans to interview new associates in January.
Deeds move to new entities
The update also covers the café's headquarters project, for which the board awarded $970,000 in February 2025 for infrastructure. Hugs plans to transfer the headquarters land to a Hugs real estate holding company it expects to form in 2027, and to deed the greenhouse land to the Hugs Cafe Inc. Foundation, formed this year.
