Possible hotel announcement coming to Celina soon and more top takeaways from 2023 state of the city
Published: Fri, 01/27/23
Possible hotel announcement coming to Celina soon and more top takeaways from 2023 state of the city
Melissa Cromwell, Celina Chamber of Commerce president, addresses the crowd at the Jan. 25 State of the City event.
Audrey Henvey / Star Local Media
Celina Record
By Audrey Henvey | Star Local Media
About 10 years ago, Celina kicked off its first State of the City event.
“I think 10 years ago when we did the first one, we were trying to figure out, ‘What do we talk about and the what-ifs,’” Celina Mayor Sean Terry said. “ I think it’s cool now, fast forward to 10 years later, what have we done and kind of where we’re going from there.”
A decade later, from the banquet hall of the Celina High School athletic complex, the Celina Chamber of Commerce hosted the 2023 iteration of the annual event, which served as a way for members to hear from city, economic and education leaders in Celina. The event took place on Jan. 25.
“I love this event because it really is the exemplary example of all of the collaboration that occurs in the city that I’m really proud of,” said Alexis Jackson, executive director of the Celina Economic Development Corporation. “All of the amazing things that are happening in Celina, it doesn’t happen in silos.”
Here are three of the Celina Record’s top takeaways from the 2023 Celina State of the City event:
Possible hotel announcement coming soon
Celina’s economic development made huge strides in 2022, including with the announcement of Methodist Health System and Costco planning to come to the city.
Alexis Jackson, Celina EDC executive director, gives a presentation at the Jan. 25 Celina State of the City event.
Audrey Henvey / Star Local Media
And more announcements are expected to come, going by a presentation from Celina Economic Development Director Alexis Jackson.
“We’re very, very close to a hotel and conference center off the tollway,” Jackson said. “So we’re in negotiation with that. That actually was born out of our business roundtable that we do. I mentioned, we’re out of space. We’re clearly out of meeting space. I don’t know what we would do if we didn’t have ISD space. So we’re working very hard on that project.”
She added that an announcement is also close to being made regarding a restaurant at the downtown Mayer building.
Jackson also said entertainment uses will be a priority in 2023.
“That was a big topic of conversation at our workshop that we had with council,” Jackson said, using such examples as axe throwing, painting, pickleball, bowling and more.
She added that corporate campuses are also a focus.
“We are looking very strongly at just bringing in more jobs,” Jackson said.
Celina Mayor Sean Terry gives an update at the Jan. 25 Celina State of the City event.
Audrey Henvey / Star Local Media
A focus on parks
Terry said Celina has listened to Frisco and Plano over the past 10 years as Celina looks ahead to growth.
“And they said ‘get as much parkland as you can,” Terry said. “Because land’s not getting any cheaper, as we all know, and they’re not making any more land. So we’re strategically buying parkland.”
The Wednesday presentation revealed purchases for three pieces of land amounting to 27 acres, 90 acres and 114 acres.
Terry said agritourism is a focus in Celina, adding that there are hopes for a park concept that calls back to what the city looked like 60 or 70 years ago.
“There will be some surveys coming out to get input from citizens, but that’s something we want to try to do,” he said.
Expect housing permit numbers to go back up
Celina’s population is still growing. The city’s population within city limits has grown from 14,680 in 2018 to 34,776 in 2022. In terms of total service area, the city’s population is 43,126 as of 2022.
Over the past four years, numbers for single family housing permits have seen a general rise, peaking in 2021 at 2,516. In June of 2021, the city announced that it had outpaced neighboring Frisco in the number of residential building permits that had been issued during a recent cycle — a notable signal toward the expansive growth that lies ahead for Celina as it surpasses the permit number from Frisco, whose growth rate has drawn national attention.
During Wednesday’s State of the City address, Mayor Sean Terry noted the 2021 number, adding that much of it was driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was a crazy time,” he said. “We did 1,650 this year. We’re going to have probably three or four more developments come online this year, so we expect that number to go back up.”