Allen highlights? (Dallas, Plano, McKinney: houses, school district, subdivision)

[phishphat]

Yep! I'm another newbie to TX, and I've become a total forum junkie in less than an hour! Posts are great! We're considering the move to Allen or Frisco but more Allen. Can anyone give me the Allen highlights? I've heard it's more 'bedroom' but not much more than that to describe the community. I've lived the last 10 years in Northern VA/Suburban MD but am originally from Bay Area CA. Anything to compare to in those areas??? Comments? Please?

[FarNorthDallas]

I like Allen. It's smaller than other towns. It has one high school and one high school towns seem to have more of a community feel to it. The high school is huge though. There's a freshman center for 9th grades and then Allen High School has 10-12 and there are about 3,400 students in those 3 grades.

Allen has this great indoor pool and workout facility. It's a joint project of the city and the school district. The high school swim team uses it, but it's open to the public when they are not using it. There is a leisure pool too with sprayground, lazy river, hot tub and water slide. Upstairs is the workout place and it overlooks the two indoor pools. They have a climbing wall, too.

Allen, like Plano, has the east-west divide going on. The east side of Allen is older. The west side is newer and has a lot of new retail, also. Most of the growth is over there. I know several people who live in Allen and most are on the west side of 75 and one is on the east side. The popular subdivision is Twin something. Twin Creeks, maybe. I'm drawing a blank.

Commuting into Dallas isn't that great if you have to do it. The end of the DART train line is in Plano and some Allen people drive to the end of the train line in Plano and then ride the train into town.

Allen has an outlet mall. That's a tough exit though sometimes (the Stacy Road exit off 75). I have friends that built a house off that exit and the exit needs to be expanded. There are 2 more corners at the intersection that are about to be developed and I hope fixing that exit is part of their projects. You can sit on 75 waiting to exit at Stacy Road on Saturdays.

I like Allen. I think it's a nice town. You can't really tell though when you go from Allen into Plano or Frisco or McKinney. It all looks the same more or less.

The downside with Frisco is getting out of Frisco can more often than not involve paying toll. Both 121 and Dallas North Tollway are tollways. Traffic is very heavy in Frisco, too. The roads are a bit behind on the west side of Frisco. Frisco does have great shopping though. I love their mall (Stonebriar).

[Lakewooder]

Tract house hell!

[kaykay]

Allen is a nice suburb. It has some very nice housing development there-Sun Creek, Twin Creeks and others. Very safe suburb. Seems like it is getting more and more amenities. Anything it might lack would probably be available in adjacent Plano or Frisco.

[phishphat]

I love your candor! Can you explain any differences among this ring of Dante's inferno and the others, Frisco/McKinney?

[MaryS80]

It's a nice place, very much a bedroom community as you stated. It tends to get overshadowed by Plano and Frisco, but that isn't a bad thing. It has managed to maintain some charm. It's very middle class, medium sized houses not so much of the McMansion overload that plagues other areas. IMO it would be a great place to raise kids.