Grayson County Is Changing: The 10 Projects Reshaping Our Future
Grayson County sits at an increasingly important crossroads in North Texas.
Stretching from the growing communities north of Dallas–Fort Worth to the shores of Lake Texoma and the Red River, it still offers small-town identity, open land, and historic downtowns. Sherman and Denison form the county’s urban core. Pottsboro, Van Alstyne, Howe, Gunter, and the smaller towns around them are no longer footnotes on a drive up U.S. 75. They are where the next decade is being decided.
And Grayson County is changing quickly. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the county’s population at 153,613 as of July 1, 2025, up approximately 13.3% from its 2020 population base. (Census.gov)
If you’re already here, you feel it in traffic, school hallways, and the sound of construction. If you’re moving here, these ten projects—not slogans—are the ones most likely to shape housing, jobs, and identity. We’ve already written deeper takes on several of them (Sherman’s tech boom, the BNSF fight in Gunter, Taylor Ranch, The Bridges). This is the countywide map as of late August 2026.
1. Texas Instruments’ Sherman megasite is no longer a rendering
TI broke ground in Sherman in 2022. On December 17, 2025, the company announced that SM1—its first 300-millimeter wafer fab on the site—had started production, about three and a half years later. (TI.com)
TI describes a potential $40 billion investment and plans for up to four connected fabs (SM1 through SM4), with as many as 3,000 company jobs plus thousands of indirect jobs if the full campus is built. The company says later fabs will be equipped as customer demand warrants. (TI.com) The Dallas Morning News reported in December 2025 that SM2’s building is largely in place, while SM3 and SM4 remain tied to economic conditions. It also reported hundreds of employees on site and a planned multi-year wind-down of remaining 150-millimeter operations in Dallas and Sherman. (Dallas Morning News)
Why it matters: Sherman is becoming an employment destination, not just a bedroom stop on the way to Collin County. That changes who moves here, what housing they look for, and how crowded U.S. 75 and FM 1417 feel at shift change. For the longer semiconductor story, see our earlier Sherman tech-boom coverage.
2. GlobalWafers / GlobiTech: the other Sherman chip campus
TI is not the only semiconductor bet in town. GlobalWafers, through its Sherman subsidiary GlobiTech, opened a 300-millimeter silicon wafer plant in May 2025. Contemporary reporting put Phase 1 at about $3.5 billion on a campus that can hold additional phases. In early 2026, company leadership said customers were already asking for more capacity and that Phase 2 was in planning, with no fixed public construction date. (Data Center Dynamics; GlobiTech)
Why it matters: Wafer plants feed chip plants. Together, the two campuses pull suppliers, contractors, and skilled trades into Grayson County even when the next fab building is still a maybe.
3. U.S. 75 is being rebuilt through the county, not just south of it
TxDOT’s “Last Mile” widening in Anna, from CR 370 to the Grayson County line, reached final completion in July 2026—an $80 million stretch meant to knock down the bottleneck heading north. (TxDOT)
Inside Grayson County, work is still active. As of TxDOT’s Paris District report dated August 31, 2026, crews are widening U.S. 75 from four lanes to six from the Collin County line to FM 902, reconstructing bridges, adding U-turns in Van Alstyne and Howe, and converting two-way frontage roads to one-way. A separate project from U.S. 82 to North Loy Lake Road is doing the same through Sherman and Denison, with reconstructed bridges at FM 691, Iron Ore Creek, and Spur 503. Work zones are posted at 65 mph. (KSST / TxDOT Paris District)
Van Alstyne’s FM 121 interchange is the missing piece. In July 2026, local officials said a $67.2 million expansion—two lanes each way, U-turns, and a new U.S. 75 bridge—had been added as a tier-one project in TxDOT’s 10-year plan. The city committed $4.5 million, Grayson County $1.5 million, and a county transportation organization $500,000. Construction is expected as early as late 2027 if funding holds, lasting about two years. (KXII)
Why it matters: If you commute, haul kids, or sit behind a dump truck on 75, this is daily life. One-way frontage roads will feel unfamiliar at first. They are also how the corridor is supposed to absorb growth.
4. The Dallas North Tollway is marching to the county line
NTTA’s Phase 4 would extend the DNT about 13.7 miles from U.S. 380 to the Collin/Grayson line. Phase 4A (U.S. 380 to FM 428) is under construction, with an opening targeted for late 2027. Phase 4B (FM 428 to the county line, including a two-lane frontage road) has no opening date yet. NTTA is clear that any road into Grayson County would be a Grayson County Regional Mobility Authority project, not NTTA’s. (NTTA)
TxDOT’s Grayson County Tollway study still describes a possible ~37-mile extension from CR 60 south of Gunter toward U.S. 75 near Denison, plus a ~4.3-mile “spur road” from CR 60 to FM 121 west of Gunter that could later become access lanes for a larger facility. Those pieces remain studies and feasibility work, not a funded highway under construction. (TxDOT)
Why it matters: You do not have to love tolls to feel this. Land prices, subdivision maps, and truck routing in southwest Grayson County are already being drawn as if a second north–south spine is coming. Whether that spine is a two-lane connector or a six-lane tollway is still a public decision.
5. BNSF’s Logistics Center North Dallas is finally dirt, not a lawsuit
On March 12, 2026, BNSF and the City of Gunter broke ground on Logistics Center North Dallas: a 944-acre, multi-customer industrial park near State Highway 289. Phase 1 construction is expected to take about 19 months. Local television put the project at about $500 million. (BNSF; KXII)
Getting there was ugly. BNSF first ran into opposition and litigation; in July 2025 the city and railroad announced a revised path that includes a 500- to 800-foot buffer from existing homes plus sound and lighting limits. (Fort Worth Report; Trains.com) BNSF has projected thousands of jobs and more than $1 billion in long-term economic impact; those figures are the company’s, not independent tallies.
Why it matters: Gunter is a small city absorbing a regional freight park. Trucks, rail noise, tax base, and school enrollment will all move. We have covered the halt, the deal, and the groundbreaking in detail; the next question is how Phase 1 actually behaves next to neighborhoods.
6. Platinum Ranch (and Taylor Ranch) would redraw Gunter ISD’s map
Centurion American’s Platinum Ranch, announced in June 2025, is one of the largest master-planned communities proposed in the county: nearly 2,000 acres west of Preston Road / SH 289, with thousands of planned homes, mixed-use acreage along the future Grayson County Toll Road/Marilee corridor, and on-site campuses contemplated for Gunter ISD. (Business Wire)
More recent bond documents, dated August 12, 2026, describe a 1,715-acre project with about 4,224 single-family lots. They say infrastructure for Improvement Area #1 (about 242 acres / 962 homes) and the Major Improvement Area began in the first quarter of 2026 and is expected through the second quarter of 2027. About $61.7 million in special-assessment bonds were priced to fund that work. (FMS Bonds)
Taylor Ranch, Centurion’s roughly 500-acre tract nearby, is still earlier: planned around a ~40-acre private lake, with no public builder sales as of our last dedicated report. Treat it as a signal, not a neighborhood you can tour this weekend.
Why it matters: A few thousand homes in Gunter ISD would change taxes, traffic on 289 and FM 121, and Friday-night football as surely as any factory.
7. Van Alstyne is approving the next wave of rooftops and retail
Southern Grayson County is where DFW’s growth actually touches the county line.
In June 2026, Van Alstyne annexed and zoned Solara, a 176-acre master-planned neighborhood near FM 121 and Hackberry Road. Plans call for 453 lots, walking trails, amenities, and about nine acres at the entrance dedicated as a city park. Neighbors raised Hackberry Road safety—no shoulders, no streetlights, school-bus traffic. The council approved the project with zoning changes near Hackberry. (KTEN; KXII)
Separately, the council rezoned about 70 acres at the northwest corner of U.S. 75 and FM 121 for The Landing: retail and restaurants on part of the tract and apartments zoned for a maximum of 280 units. (KTEN)
Why it matters: Van Alstyne is trying to keep grocery and restaurant trips in town instead of sending everyone to McKinney or Sherman. The tradeoff is more cars on the same 75/121 knot TxDOT just put back on the 10-year plan.
8. Preston Crossings and The Bridges: lifestyle growth on FM 121
Between Van Alstyne and Gunter, Preston Crossings continues to fill in around The Bridges Golf Club. Mattamy Homes announced 140 residences in a recent phase, with models in late 2025 and sales in early 2026, while Centurion continues the broader master plan of more than 200 acres. (Grayson County Line, The Bridges)
Why it matters: This is not industrial. It is the amenity version of the same northward push—golf, new homesites, and a corridor that used to feel like open prairie between two small towns. Our Bridges piece covers the course; the larger point is that FM 121 is becoming a growth street, not a farm-to-market afterthought.
9. Schools are racing construction—and hitting a tax wall
Growth shows up first in cafeterias.
Sherman ISD voters approved a $540 million bond in May 2023. Three elementary buildings opened for 2025–26 (new Parker, plus replacement Crutchfield and Fairview). Sherman High School added 33,000 square feet and 20 classrooms in 2025, lifting capacity to about 3,213 students. A new south Sherman elementary is planned for fall 2028; in June 2026 the district selected a 21.6-acre site on West Travis Street near Northgate Drive. A new early childhood center and a multipurpose stadium at Sherman High were listed as nearing completion. The district says the bond did not raise the tax rate, citing a larger property-tax base from high-tech growth. (Sherman ISD)
Not every district said yes. In November 2025, Van Alstyne ISD voters rejected a $550 million bond (about 57% against). Tom Bean ISD’s smaller bond also failed. That leaves Van Alstyne, one of the fastest-changing attendance zones in the county, trying to handle enrollment without the campuses it asked for. (Texas Scorecard; Grayson County Line school guide)
Gunter ISD is still working through its May 2022 bond: football-field turf finished in May 2026; high-school restrooms and the Tiger Lane secondary access in August 2026; restoration of the old schoolhouse as an administration building running roughly May 2026 through January 2027. (Gunter ISD Bond Progress)
Why it matters: New jobs without classrooms become portable buildings and longer bus rides. Failed bonds do not freeze enrollment.
10. The north end: downtown Denison, Preston Harbor, and the airport
While the south county talks DFW, the north county is building around history and water.
Designing Downtown Denison’s Phase 2—streetscape work that began years ago—was wrapping in summer 2026, with a ribbon dedication set for October 15, 2026. Main Street has reopened to pedestrians; some side streets were still under construction into June, and nearby businesses asked people not to wait for the ribbon before coming back downtown. (KTEN; KXII)
On the lake side, Preston Harbor is moving from dirt work to city-backed infrastructure. In July 2026 Denison extended the project’s TIRZ by 10 years. In August the city approved a nearly $23 million bond for streets, water, and sewer for the first two phases—infrastructure for 374 homes. Developers said lots were graded, a north arterial was underway, and home construction was targeted for early 2027 after utilities. A Margaritaville resort remains a stated plan, not an open hotel. (KXII)
A few miles away, North Texas Regional Airport–Perrin Field is trying to match that growth. Rise Aviation broke ground April 16, 2026, on a 63,000-square-foot hangar (about 50 jobs, per local reports). Officials have also described a taxiway opening roughly 30 acres for hangars and a delayed ~$4 million runway-lighting project that had been pushed to mid-August 2026. Commercial airline service is an aspiration, not a schedule. (KXII; KTEN)
Why it matters: Lake Texoma is still the county’s backyard. Preston Harbor and a livelier downtown Denison are bets that people will live and spend the night here, not only pass through to Sherman’s plants.
What this means
None of these ten items is theoretical anymore. Chips are in production. Rail dirt is moving in Gunter. U.S. 75 is a work zone from the Collin line through Sherman. Housing maps in Van Alstyne and Gunter are measured in hundreds and thousands of lots. Schools are either opening wings or asking voters for wings they did not get.
The honest tension is the same one longtime residents already name at the grocery store: opportunity versus identity. More jobs can mean you don’t have to drive to Frisco. They can also mean the two-lane road that used to feel like home does not.
If you’re moving here, pick a town for the life you want—Sherman’s jobs, Denison and Pottsboro’s lake-and-downtown mix, Van Alstyne and Howe on 75, Gunter’s small-town core under industrial and subdivision pressure, or the quieter east and west sides—and then look at the project nearest your street. Growth is not automatically good or bad. It is a set of decisions still being made in city halls, at TxDOT public hearings, and in school bond elections.
Grayson County Line will keep following the ones that actually break ground.
