I’m ashamed to say that even though I’ve lived and worked in West Plano for years, I can’t keep all the new developments in this part of town straight in my head. I’m not alone either. Now instead of idle small chat about the weather, Planoites talk about all the coming traffic to “that part of town,” while motioning generally to the west.
You probably know about Toyota, Liberty Mutual, and JP Morgan Chase Bank’s relocations that brought 4.1 million (MILLION!) square feet of new corporate real estate to the area. Then more companies like Nokia, NTT Data, and Fannie Mae followed suit, announcing new or expanded campuses in West Plano. Then I swear by 2018, I just lost count and tuned out when press release after press release announced a new regional headquarters coming to Plano. (Sorta like what people do when they hear a new sport or arena is coming to Arlington.)
There’s hope for confused Planoites and anyone else hiking up the Dallas North Tollway to see quite literally a brand new cityscape rise up from what once was prairie land. Here’s a quick review on what’s going on in west Plano and three shopping experiences you’ll only get at Legacy West.
First off, you can’t say you’re going to Shops at Legacy anymore because there’s like three of them.
There’s the original Shops at Legacy, located on the southeast corner of Legacy Drive and Dallas Parkway. That corner’s got the Angelika Film Center, Taco Diner, and Mi Cocina, home of the Mambo Taxi. This margarita-sangria swirl concoction gets its name because you’ll have to taxi on home when you’re cut off after two.
If you hop across Legacy Drive, you’ll find Seasons 52 Fresh Grill, Capital Grille, East Hampton Sandwich Company, and Mexican Sugar. Technically, that area is all part of the Shops at Legacy, but for all intents and purposes, it’s Legacy North (and home of the hardest-to-park-in parking garage in the area).
Now cross over the Dallas North Tollway to Legacy West, master developer Fehmi Karahan’s $3.2-billion, 255-acre project that’s so new, it still shows up as farmland on Google Maps. It’s home to the huge three-story Legacy Hall, the largest food hall in north Texas that’s deserving of its own Daltxrealestate.com article to come, high-rise residential slated for fall 2019, and these flagship stores unique to Legacy West:
Frontgate Legacy West
Located on the far northern end of Windrose Avenue, Frontgate’s first brick-and-mortar store in Texas is a 21,000-square-foot retail space with a breezy 2,500-square-foot exterior patio that faces Legacy Hall. Not everything that’s in the popular catalog will be available in store, but about 60 percent of the store’s inventory is geared toward outdoor living, perfect for backyard-loving Texans. And boy, do we love our Frontgate-furnished backyards and pool accessories. We love their furniture, too, including weatherproof outdoor sofas pretty enough for inside, decor and accessories grouped by room: bedroom, bathroom, dining, living, and a seasonal section. Here’s a fun fact, our own Candy Evans was the first customer at Frontgate’s Plano store.
In-store perks aplenty: You can take decorating classes at the bistro bar, free in-store design services for customers, and monogramming on soft goods including towels, sheets, blankets, and bathrobes. Be prepared to redecorate your entire home, or at least aspire to.
Barnes & Noble Kitchen
One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.
– Virginia Woolf
That’s the idea behind Texas’s first location of Barnes & Noble Kitchen – making visiting a bookstore much more of an experience. The national bookseller’s new read-eat-drink concept store is 9,000 square feet, which is quite a bit smaller than the typical store, but houses an upscale casual American restaurant with a menu of locally-sourced craft beer and wine. Expect menu items such as avocado toast, a brisket hickory burger, pan roasted salmon and ruby red grapefruit salad from executive chef Robbie Nowlin. Weekend brunches and half-price wine Wednesdays are just a few reasons to make the trek. Just imagine, your perfect Sunday morning with books and a carafe of blackberry mimosas.
Tesla
Now your drooling doesn’t have to be confined to parking lots and intersections. Visit the Tesla Store in Legacy West, one of only a handful in north Texas, where you can inspect these specimens of automotive engineering from top to bottom. The best part is the staff there, that aren’t a bunch of car salesman but rather auto enthusiasts who are happy to explain the intricacies of the Model S sports sedan, Model X SUV and the affordable Model 3 with visitors to the showroom.
This new showroom is conveniently located near Collin County’s first Tesla Service Center at 5800 Democracy Drive, housed in half of my former employer’s SUCCESS Partners building, behind the BMW dealership. Yeah, that one’s still a little fresh for me, so I’ll move on.
