Visit McKinney board hears updates on venue groundbreaking, JW Marriott plans, parks projects and tourism initiatives

At its June 24 meeting, the Visit McKinney board heard progress reports on downtown and regional tourism projects — including a recent groundbreaking for a new venue expected to open for the 2026 season, the JW Marriott announcement, and a $500 million Encore Wire campus investment — and received a detailed parks-and-recreation capital projects update.

The reports matter for McKinney’s tourism and economic-development outlook: board staff said recent events and a large tournament helped push occupancy to 77% during the month of the Byron Nelson, and fiscal-year-to-date lodging receipts were up nearly 9% compared with the prior year.

Aaron Warner, executive director of Visit McKinney, described several large private and public projects. He said the JW Marriott proposal is for a 290-room hotel with about 51,000 square feet of meeting and conference space. Warner also highlighted the recently completed groundbreaking for a new performance venue, which staff said is on target for the 2026 season, and he noted Encore Wire held a groundbreaking for a $500,000,000 investment in its campus. Warner said the Byron Nelson extension will remain in McKinney through at least 2030 and that…