Add 5 minutes and a lifetime of enjoyment in Melissa
7 miles from McKinney, the town takes part in northward migration of commuters
06:01 PM CST on Saturday, February 2, 2008
By MARY JACOBS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
Most potential homebuyers don't start out shopping in Melissa. But when they discover it, J.J. Chapa says, they fall in love with the northeast Collin County town of 4,300.
Mr. Chapa, a broker-associate with Keller Williams Realty, sold 10 homes in Melissa last year to families originally looking to buy in Allen, McKinney or Frisco.
JUAN GARCIA/DMN Julie Anderson was happy to find a new home in the Liberty subdivision. "You go to the gas station or to the doughnut shop, and there's a friendly conversation everywhere." "I asked, 'Would you be willing to look a little farther up the road?' he said. "For an extra five-minute commute, you can get a lot more house for your money."
That extra five-minute commute involves going north on U.S. 75 - Melissa is seven miles north of McKinney and 35 miles north of downtown Dallas. State Highway 121 also bisects the city, connecting Melissa to major roads in Dallas and Fort Worth.
And like the other Collin County towns along that corridor, Melissa is growing. Mayor David Dorman expects Melissa's population to top 5,000 easily in 2008. But he's focused on the community that his grandchildren, who also live in Melissa, will experience in the coming decades.
"I think Melissa could become the next Frisco or Richardson," he says. The city has enough space for a population of more than 100,000.
Plans under way now, he says, will create an infrastructure to support a community of that size. In March, the city will break ground for a town center that will feature a new city hall, a farmer's market and parks. A parcel of land is set aside for a DART rail station in the town center area.
Those plans could put Melissa back on track for a future that derailed in the early 20th century. When the Houston and Central Texas Railroad came through Melissa in 1872, prominent Texas families with names such as Throckmorton and Fitzhugh settled there. Eventually, the population grew to 1,200. But in 1921, a tornado struck.
"Melissa never quite recovered," said Mr. Dorman. "When I moved here in 1990, the population was around 300."
But the Collin County growth engine has pulled into Melissa, and so have the homebuilders. Virtually all of the homes available in Melissa are new or nearly new. Prices in the half-dozen new subdivisions range from the $100,000s to half a million dollars, with a few topping $1 million.
"It's very rare to find a home built before 2000 in Melissa," said Mr. Chapa.
Julie Anderson was happy to find a new home in the Liberty subdivision. She discovered Melissa two years ago while looking online as her family planned to move to Texas from Kansas.
A big attraction was the city's small school district. Melissa schools were rated "exemplary" in nearly every category and earned some of the highest test scores in Collin County. The school system has purchased $7 million in land to build five additional elementary schools as the need arises.
But Ms. Anderson says that what she couldn't see on the Internet was the town's close-knit atmosphere.
"I think it started with the people who have lived here the whole time," she said. "You go to the gas station or to the doughnut shop, and there's a friendly conversation everywhere."
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MELISSA AT A GLANCE
History: The town was laid out in 1872, after the railroad arrived. A deadly 1921 tornado caused much damage; a 1929 fire destroyed a lot of what had been rebuilt.
2007 estimated median home value: $169,231
2007 home sales*: $40,000 to $1.19 million
Shopping: Stonebriar Centre in Frisco
Schools: Melissa ISD
2007 crime: No murders, 1 rape, 7 aggravated assaults, 23 burglaries, 57 larceny thefts, 2 auto thefts
More information:
www.cityofmelissa.com
www.movetomelissa.com
*Reported sales prices of homes listed through MLS
SOURCES: Melissa Web site and Police Department; J.J. Chapa, Keller Williams Realty, Coppell
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