Looking for a community with a downtown

[mami2emily]

Originally Posted by ClarenceBodiker

I LOVE McKinney's downtown -- can't believe it didn't even cross my mind. It makes me sad that Dallas is eventually going to swallow McKinney whole. I hope they can preserve some of that small town, historic feeling.

I love McKinney too! Reminds me of the Marietta Square in GA. My family and I visit McKinney often because it is such a quaint, fun, walkable area with so much to see.

Plus we are addicted to the ghost pepper salsa at Loco Cowpoke...yum!

[Souleiado]

Speaking about McKinney, it just remind me that soon the farmers market near the downtown area will open . It's not big but it has plenty of small vendors with good quality products. It is one of the attraction to keep that downtown alive. We love to go on Saturday morning.

[Photography]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

No, Irving doesn't have a similar downtown at all. If you get into the older part of Irving (south of 183), it's actually pretty rough.

Stop spewing false information about south Irving! This is completely false Moderator cut: see comment. I've seen this mentioned this in a few threads now and I signed in just to reply to this Moderator cut: see comment remark.

I am a native of Irving and want to clarify that south Irving is not all rough south of 183, and in fact most of it is perfectly fine. Far southeast Irving can be somewhat troublesome, but nothing too bad. You have a heavy hispanic population in south Irving, but that doesn't equate to it being "rough". Moderator cut: see comment

I invite those of you with questions in terms of demographics about south Irving to reference CD's own page on south Irving.

[mcleigh]

Thank you all so very much for all of this wonderful information! It is so very helpful! Nice to hear validation about Grapevine and to learn about McKinney (and that Plano has a downtown). This forum is so helpful!!

[Squirl]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Grapevine is about the only town in DFW with a similar downtown. It's on the National Register of Historic Places! Commute from Grapevine to Irving would be 15-20 minutes. DH and I have lived her for 10 years and we love it.

No, Irving doesn't have a similar downtown at all. If you get into the older part of Irving (south of 183), it's actually pretty rough.

This is a false, offensive remark about Irving. Irving is a city, not a town like Grapevine. As such it has the elements of a city and you can not compare. But making a statement about a section of a city where over 100,000 people live (that's the population within Irving that lives south of 183) as "rough" is simply Moderator cut: edited to: unfounded. There are many, many pleasant neighborhoods anf wonderful people living in Iriving south of 183. One of my tenants is a Doctor at UTSW, one of my tenants is an engineer, another is an operations manager for a local business employing 50+ workers, one is a retail store manager, another is a bookeeper for a Las Colinas company. Everyone of them has no criminal record and long-term employment! They all live south of 183 in Irving!

[Johnhw2]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

And commuting from Plano to Irving every day would be awful.

Speak for yourself, I commute from West Plano to Irving every day. Its 25 minutes via tollroads at 7 to 7:10am departure. I can see how from eastern Plano would be a tough commute but if one can avoid rush hour peak might be less than 45 minutes which is normal in Houston from my experience there.

As for Irving's downtown, there are a project initiated by the city to redevelopment the heritage disctrict in Irving. Its moving along but slowly I might add.

[tracenat]

When we move from McKinney, we'll really miss being so close to downtown McKinney. Much too far of a commute for you though OP, as others have said.
Downtown Grapevine is cute and has some nice shops.

[ChristieP]

Sorry, y'all. I guess I'm not as familiar with Irving as I thought. The few times I've had to venture south of 183, I thought it looked a little rough to me. Kind of like the Pleasant Grove area of Dallas. Not somewhere I would want to live. But to each his own.

[Squirl]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Sorry, y'all. I guess I'm not as familiar with Irving as I thought. The few times I've had to venture south of 183, I thought it looked a little rough to me. Kind of like the Pleasant Grove area of Dallas. Not somewhere I would want to live. But to each his own.

Guess you were not in the right neighborhoods! Because there are plenty neighborhoods on the south side of 183 that look like neighborhoods in Grapevine.

[Texan#1]

One of my favorite neighborhoods in Irving (including Las Colinas and Valley Ranch) is the Hospital District. I love those homes on the sprawling tree-filled lots.