McKinney is ready to put money behind its long-discussed plan for a sports and entertainment district on roughly 300 acres the city owns in the north part of town.
Three related items on the City Council's Oct. 20 consent agenda would sign a memorandum of understanding with HD Sports & Hospitality LLC and the design firm Parkhill, Smith & Cooper, hire Parkhill for $1 million in preliminary design work, and amend the budget to cover it. City documents call the effort Project Kepler.
The land and the idea
The property is two tracts: about 230 acres known as the Brinkmann Tract and about 70 more acres next to it. A staff memo places the site east of Lake Forest, west of Taylor Burk Drive and south of Bloomdale Road. The city and the McKinney Community Development Corporation began buying the land in 2020 and closed in 2021.
The memorandum describes a regional draw with athletic fields, indoor and outdoor sports buildings, entertainment venues, hotels, restaurants, parking and trails tied into existing paths. It also calls for public use of the fields by city sports groups.
Who pays for planning
The $1 million master-planning budget is split evenly. The city's $500,000 would come from the Parks Construction Fund, and HD Sports would put in the other $500,000, with both shares held in escrow at a McKinney title company. Under the memorandum, the developer's payment also works as an option on up to 30 acres of the site, subject to appraisals and further negotiation.
Parkhill's proposal lays out about six months for programming and a concept master plan, including infrastructure planning, cost and phasing estimates and help shaping a public-private partnership. Design beyond that stage would be priced later.
Terms still to be negotiated
A list of non-binding terms attached to the memorandum sketches a ground lease of 50 years with two 10-year renewals, with buildings reverting to the city when the lease ends.
It proposes that HD Sports put at least $500,000 toward improvements elsewhere in the city's parks, that league and event registration open first to McKinney residents, and that trails stay open to residents from sunrise to sunset.
