Commercial Roofing Contractors in Princeton, TX

It’s homecoming season and North Texas students are showing off their school spirit, but some are more enthusiastic than others. Earlier in Sept. 2023, while students from Midland High School in West Texas created two massive 10-foot mums to celebrate, Princeton ISD students were cooking an even bigger project.

Students from Princeton High School from different classes joined forces and spent a whole month building a gigantic 18-foot mum to be installed in Princeton High School’s cafeteria. The unveiling of the gigantic floral design project happened on Sept. 14, 2023, just in time for the beginning of the homecoming season.

"I loved it. I was so proud of it. It was so worth it," Princeton High School junior Upkar Kaur told NBCDFW. "Worth all the hot glue gun burns."

Made out of 60 feet of steel, one ream of butcher paper, 56 feet of fishing line, 1,00 coffee filters and quite possibly too much glue, the contraption was almost too large to even make it into the school.

"It was stressful," said junior Anthony Munoz, an ag mechanical student who participated in the structural aspects of the project. "I was 100% confident in my welds, but it was a little bit stressful."

As previously reported by Local Profile, it would be borderline blasphemous not to cheer on your school’s football team dressed as delightfully flamboyant as possible. So, according to NBCDFW, after students and teachers took the opportunity to snap a few pictures and enjoy the giant corsage, it was time to cheer for the Panthers at the homecoming game. While it served its noble purpose, the school's extravagant project did not make it through the rain.

"It's in the dumpster now," said senior Shelby Williams. "It's so sad."

Even though homecoming season is over, students are already planning to outdo themselves for next year.

The University of Houston has once again been named one of the top 50 public universities for “Best Value” in the latest rankings from The Princeton Review. Coming in at No. 44 among public schools, UH was recognized for its outstanding academics, affordable cost and strong career prospects for graduates.

“This recognition speaks volumes about our mission to provide students with a premier education and our support to help them achieve success before and after graduation,” said Diane Chase, UH senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “Our students don’t have to mortgage their futures to pay for their degrees and they will graduate with stellar career prospects.”

The education services company chose 209 schools for the 2023 list based on data from its surveys of administrators at more than 650 colleges in 2022-23. Topics covered everything from academics, cost, financial aid, graduation rates and student debt.

The company also factored in data from its surveys of students attending the schools as well as data from PayScale.com’s surveys of alumni of the schools about their starting and mid-career salaries and job satisfaction. UH graduates with at least a bachelor’s degree have a median starting salary of nearly $68,000 and a mid-career median salary of $119,800. One student said, "It really seems my future is cared for and cultivated here."

In all, The Princeton Review crunched more than 40 data points to tally its ROI (Return on Investment) ratings.

"The schools we chose as our Best Value Colleges for 2023 are a select group comprising about 8% of the nation’s undergraduate institutions,” said Rob Franek, The Princeton Review's editor-in-chief. “We commend their administrators, faculties, staff, and alumni for all they are doing to educate their students and guide them to success in their careers. These colleges are also exceptional for the generous amount of financial aid they award to students with need and/or for their comparatively low cost of attendance.”

Last fall, UH was included in The Princeton Review’s “The Best 388 Colleges”, which is based on administrator and student surveys. Only about 14% of the country’s 2,700 four-year colleges were profiled.

“At the University of Houston, we believe in taking a strong experiential approach to education that prepares students for successful careers and inspires them to think beyond their limits to become global citizens,” added Chase.

The North Texas cities of Princeton, Melissa and Celina are powering through an overall slump in building permits in the suburbs and exurbs north of Dallas and Fort Worth.

Frisco, Little Elm, Prosper and other cities are not.

But hey, that’s why they call it a slump.

Through the first four months of the year, the number of single-family home building permits issued in Princeton is up 45% over the same timeframe last year. City officials in the Collin County city on U.S. 380 handed out a total of 454 permits for new home construction in January, February, March and April of this year, compared to 313 permits in the same four months of 2022.

The building department in Melissa has issued 385 residential permits so far this year, compared to 295 in the same period last year. That’s a 31% increase for the Collin county city just off U.S. Highway 75.

In Celina, which straddles Collin and Denton counties, residential permits have ticked up 8%. Homebuilders have pulled 785 permits for new construction year-to-date vs. 732 in the same period last year.

View Slideshow 59 photos

Despite sharply higher mortgage rates in 2023 than this time last year, many homebuilders and the developers of master-planned communities across North Texas are moving ahead with projects that will bring tens of thousands of new homes to the region. Here are the ones to watch in the years ahead.

Overall, though, homebuilders continue to scale back in most suburbs north of Dallas and Fort Worth, according to survey data compiled by Addison-based Tomlin Investments, which tracks new-home construction.

Most of the declines are double-digit percentages.

Frisco’s residential permits have fallen 38%. Little Elm is down by 51%. Prosper’s permits have dropped 30%.

That means 384 permits pulled year-to-date in Frisco vs. 624 in the first four months of 2022. In Little Elm, permits have fallen to 223 from 451 last year. And homebuilders in Prosper have pulled 266 permits in 2023 compared to 378 in the January-through-April period of 2022.

Permits in McKinney, the county seat of Collin County, are down 26% to 384 vs. 517 in the first four months of last year.

Residential real estate fundamentals remain strong in and around Dallas-Fort Worth, but the banking crisis is complicating the capitalization side of homebuilding and the development of housing communities in the region, according to Larry Corson, co-founder of Corson Cramer Development, which is active in the northern DFW ‘burbs.

In April, the residential land development company acquired 43 acres just outside McKinney’s city limits with plans to deliver 104 residential lots to Perry Homes, one of the largest homebuilders in the state.

That project is progressing, but the DFW housing market more broadly is being hampered by the rapid-fire interest rate hikes starting last year and the failure of multiple U.S. banks starting in March with the collapse Silicon Valley Bank, Corson said.

“Trying to get a development loan today has become more difficult than it was six months ago,” Corson said. “The capitalization challenges that are out there are being caused by outside issues unrelated to what's going on in the housing market as a whole. Yet at the same time, there's a huge demand for housing still in DFW.”

Here’s how other North Texas cities are faring on the residential permit front:

North Texas Homebuilders

Local new home closings in 2022

View this list

Plans for another rental home development are underway in Princeton, as growth surges throughout the Collin County city about 10 miles east of McKinney.

Garden Homes of Princeton, a $28 million gated community project, will be located at 111 E. Monte Carlo Blvd., according to documents filed with the state.

Related:Rental community with more than 400 homes under construction in Princeton

A concept plan filed with the city shows 126 single-story units, ranging from 680 square feet to 1,295 square feet.

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“They’re very nice. They’re single story so they’re great for seniors, great for families and they’re great for lock-and-leave professionals,” said developer Steven Trolio.

The community will have two dog parks, a clubhouse and pool area, a “tot lot” for kids, a mail center, garages and storage units.

The homes will have vaulted ceilings, some with kitchen windows on the side, giving light from two directions for a homier feel. Many of the units will only have one common wall. Each unit will have patios big enough for outdoor furniture and barbecue pits.

“It’s a great product type,” Trolio said. “You can leave your back slider open and your dog can come in and out of the house. Your kids can be out on the back patio playing while you do your thing in the house… It’s a nice gated community, and it’s going to be very secure and safe.”

Trolio said the 12.2-acre site was a perfect fit for this concept.

“If I did a typical apartment deal, I could have 240 or 280 units on it. So there’s a huge differentiation in the feel of the complexes and how they function,” he said.

City officials are currently reviewing the civil engineering plans for the homes, which are being designed by Allen Whitwell Architect of McKinney. Estimated completion date is March 2025.

“It’s going to be a great complex,” Trolio said.

This development comes on the heels of Oxenfree, a rental community with 408 single-family homes and townhomes on more than 50 acres at 1525 FM 982 near Myrick Lane.

The first of those homes are expected to be complete in April 2024. The development will include a centralized amenity center with a resort-style pool and green spaces.

The population in Princeton increased from less than 7,000 to more than 20,000 over the last decade. The increase has been driven by the growth of Collin County and large employers moving to the area.

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Stacker compiled a list of places with the most expensive homes in Collin County, TX using data from Zillow. Places are ranked by the Zillow Home Values Index for all homes as of November 2022. The ZVHI represents a seasonally adjusted price for the middle market for all homes. All 23 cities and towns with data available were included in the list.

#20. Princeton, TX– Typical home value: $372,475– 1-year price change: +16.1%– 5-year price change: +68.7%

#19. Anna, TX– Typical home value: $394,729– 1-year price change: +17.5%– 5-year price change: +72.2%

#18. Lavon, TX– Typical home value: $394,852– 1-year price change: +14.3%– 5-year price change: +64.9%

#17. Nevada, TX– Typical home value: $395,770– 1-year price change: +14.1%– 5-year price change: +75.9%

#16. New Hope, TX– Typical home value: $427,145– 1-year price change: +18.9%– 5-year price change: +91.4%

#15. Wylie, TX– Typical home value: $433,507– 1-year price change: +15.5%– 5-year price change: +64.5%

#14. Lowry Crossing, TX– Typical home value: $476,208– 1-year price change: +14.9%– 5-year price change: +81.5%

#13. Blue Ridge, TX– Typical home value: $483,838– 1-year price change: +21.9%– 5-year price change: +93.1%

#12. Melissa, TX– Typical home value: $497,926– 1-year price change: +19.2%– 5-year price change: +70.2%

#11. Plano, TX– Typical home value: $527,852– 1-year price change: +15.1%– 5-year price change: +54.8%

#10. Allen, TX– Typical home value: $534,718– 1-year price change: +17.2%– 5-year price change: +62.4%

#9. McKinney, TX– Typical home value: $545,829– 1-year price change: +18.3%– 5-year price change: +66.0%

#8. Saint Paul, TX– Typical home value: $579,114– 1-year price change: +16.3%– 5-year price change: +67.3%

#7. Murphy, TX– Typical home value: $605,753– 1-year price change: +14.7%– 5-year price change: +59.7%

#6. Celina, TX– Typical home value: $622,844– 1-year price change: +21.5%– 5-year price change: +73.5%

#5. Fairview, TX– Typical home value: $687,702– 1-year price change: +14.1%– 5-year price change: +57.2%

#4. Frisco, TX– Typical home value: $694,988– 1-year price change: +19.6%– 5-year price change: +64.5%

#3. Prosper, TX– Typical home value: $825,828– 1-year price change: +21.5%– 5-year price change: +75.6%

#2. Parker, TX– Typical home value: $1,054,031– 1-year price change: +17.2%– 5-year price change: +64.5%

#1. Lucas, TX– Typical home value: $1,062,693– 1-year price change: +17.4%– 5-year price change: +66.5%