Since the late 1990s, the Craig family’s name has been synonymous with commercial and residential growth in McKinney. Their name appears everywhere from Craig Crossing, 31-acre retail development on El Dorado Parkway, to Craig Office Park, a commercial development on Craig Drive, and, of course, Craig Ranch, a 2,000 acre mixed-use development that will be home to AT&T Byron Nelson in 2021.
The Craig family has had their hand in shaping Collin County for more than 30 years. David Craig, chairman and CEO of Craig International, built the first master-planned community in Collin County with his father Jim Craig in the late ‘90s.
“At the time, everyone kind of thought they were a little crazy for talking about high density in the suburbs,” his son James Craig, president of Craig International, pointed out in an interview with Local Profile as part of the Local Leaders series on Facebook Live. “But you know, 20 years later, we like to joke they were overnight success.”
Craig’s father became known as one of the most influential businessmen in McKinney and a visionary on par with Ross Perot, who envisioned Collin County becoming the corporate headquarters of North Texas. Or as David Pitstick, the former president and CEO of the McKinney Economic Development Corp., told Dallas Business Journal in 2002:
"David Craig wrote the book on how to work with communities to accomplish his goals. He is as good as there is. He basically becomes a friend of the opposition. It can almost be overwhelming, but it's a very effective approach. In the private sector, he is the most powerful person in McKinney."
Today, Craig International has every sort of housing type you can think of, James Craig says. They have townhomes, urban residential, TPC Craig Ranch golf course, Craig Ranch Fitness & Spa, as well as the Michael Johnson Performance center, which offers the next generation in athletic development.
“It's actually also home to the McKinney corporate center,” Craig explains. “Craig Ranch, which a lot of people don't know this, is the official corporate center. We worked it out with the city about 10 years ago. And in return, the city provided some additional infrastructure in the very beginning of the corporate center.”
Their first corporate relocation to Craig Ranch was Independent Bank, which opened its $52 million corporate headquarters there in May 2019 in what Craig calls “a six story Class A beautiful building.”
RPM xConstruction, one of the largest construction companies in North Texas, announced in early September that they will build its new corporate headquarters at the Corporate Center at Craig Ranch in a three-story, 90,000 square-foot office and home to more than 750 corporate and field staff.
“They were pretty dead set on going to Frisco,” Craig says. “We said, ‘You know, why don't you at least look into what we have to offer?”
They showed him everything that the corporate center had to offer: the accessibility to Sam Rayburn Tollway, the nearby master-planned communities with multiple restaurant and retail options within walking distance for employees.
Barry Rich, the manager of RPM, liked what he saw and released an early September press release announcing his decision: “After looking at all that the McKinney Corporate Center has to offer, we chose this site as our future. With the tremendous growth of RPM and our affiliated companies over the last 10 years, we feel McKinney Corporate Center Craig Ranch is a perfect fit for us.”
To hear more about Craig International projects, check out the video below.
Local Leaders by Local Profile is an ongoing video series featuring incredible local leaders sharing their best leadership insights. Going beyond business, Local Leaders aims to inspire and motivate you to become the best version of yourself. It broadcasts LIVE via the Local Profile Facebook page (click here.)
