You can Build in the city of Allen, Texas

The city of Allen has a strong alliance between the Allen City Council, the city staff and AEDC staff, as all work in sync to continue Allen’s positive growth trajectory. 

Developers have noted this strong alliance and expressed a common thread of components that have led to Allen’s success so far, and which they foresee will take Allen into the future:

• The ease with which they can work with the AEDC and the City of Allen
• The natural elements and beautiful landscapes that Allen offers and that all of their developments incorporate into their projects
• The business strategies that the AEDC and the City of Allen employ to ensure the city’s growth aligns with a vision of multi-use functionality and Allen’s natural environments – “This isn’t a city of resistance; this is a city of strategy,” said Lucy Billingsley.

The Watters Creek District has grown into a bustling vibrant mixed-use district.

One of Allen’s first projects that combined natural environmental beauty and multi-use functionality was the Watters Creek District. Bowman offered details and updates about the Watters Creek area:

• One Bethany West now houses multiple companies like MD7, Inbenta, Micron Technologies, Resi and Pushpay.
• Washburne has enhancements in the works for Watters Creek Village, including attracting new retail tenants, installing new lighting, making landscape improvements and décor enhancements.
• And the Allen Tech Hub, a 105,000 square foot Class A tech-friendly office building on the south side of Watters Creek is now complete and ready for move-ins.
• AEDC-owned property that straddles land on either side of Watters Creek Boulevard is available for development; Bowman noted the land is earmarked for office buildings One Bethany North and One Bethany Central.

The Entertainment District in Allen

In a recent panel discussion on the topic, industry insiders discussed their plans for entertainment venues in Allen. 

The panel featured four participants: Buddy Kramer, owner of the Katy Trail Ice House franchise: Tony  Palermo representing Chicken-n-Pickle; Brad Little from High 5 Entertainment and Brad Zeitlin, owner of The Hub.  The four participants described each of the concepts they represent and highlighted the incredible entertainment and food venues either already available (The Hub at The Farm) or coming soon (Chicken-n-Pickle and High 5 opening in 2024 at The Farm, and Katy Trail Ice House at The Ranch in 2025.

All of these concepts share a common thread: family fun entertainment and a wide variety of food and beverage options. As Brad Zeitlin said about The Hub, “We couldn’t have found a better spot in Texas than Allen.” The Hub, he noted, has seen a quarter of a million visitors so far since its opening last fall.

The newest concept is the Ranch, a mixed-use development project featuring the Katy Trail Ice House, scheduled to open in 2025. Allen will be the Katy Trail brand’s third location in the metroplex. The project will have a "hill country vibe” with office space, residential, retail shops and restaurants making up the whole of the project, with the Katy Trail Ice House at the heart of it all. The Ranch will sit south of SH 121, just 30 minutes from the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.