U Don't Say

Booming Dallas neighbor hauls in top spot among growing U.S. cities

5917 Saddle Club Trail house for sale in McKinney

McKinney rocks another list.

Photo courtesy of Opendoor

In recent months, McKinney has been listed as one of the best places to buy a home, and one of best places for first-time homebuyers.

So it should be no surprise that U-Haul calculated the Dallas neighbor as one of the top U.S. cities for growth.

In its annual report, released January 7, the company details migration trends across the U.S. Analyzing data from 2019, the moving and rental company placed McKinney at No. 17 among the 2019 U-Haul Growth Cities.

The only three Texas cities to rock a higher spot on the list were the Austin suburb of Round Rock-Pflugerville (No. 5), the San Antonio suburb of New Braunfels (No. 11), and the Houston suburb of Spring-The Woodlands, which ranked No. 14 on the list.

To determine the country's top 25 growth cities, U-Haul analyzed more than 2 million rental transactions over the calendar year. It then calculated the net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks entering an area versus those leaving an area.

Unlike U.S. Census Bureau or real estate data, the company says its U-Haul Growth Cities offers a snapshot of an area's retention rates versus strictly growth.

"While U-Haul migration trends do not correlate directly to population or economic growth, the company's growth data is an effective gauge of how well cities and states are attracting and maintaining residents," it explains in a release.

The top spot this year went to Raleigh-Durham, where arrivals accounted for nearly 51.4 percent of all one-way U-Haul traffic. In its explanation as to why the North Carolina hub is growing, the company points to the region's booming tech sector, which is says rivals that of the Capital City.

"We have tons of businesses coming here, bringing new residents in U-Haul trucks," said Kris Smith, U-Haul Company of Raleigh president, in a release. "Raleigh-Durham is rivaling Austin for attracting tech businesses and young professionals. We're seeing Silicon Valley talent and companies flock to the area. With a competitive cost of living, good wages, and job growth, Raleigh-Durham is experiencing a boom in population."

But when it came to the top growth state, neither Texas nor North Carolina got the No. 1 spot. That honor went to Florida, which took the crown from Texas, the winner in 2018. The Sunshine State claimed seven cities among the top 25, including five in the top 10.

reports trends

Coworking News

New-style coworking concept Switchyards from Atlanta to open in Dallas

Switchyards

A new kind of shared workspace is coming to Dallas: Called Switchyards, it's an Atlanta based chain that calls itself "the world’s first neighborhood work club," and it will open in Oak Cliff at 610 N. Tyler St., in the space most previously occupied by Boxwood Hospitality (Cliff House), and Good Shepherd Church, which is moving to Wax Space.

According to a statement, it'll open on August 25.

Switchyards was founded in 2019 by CEO Michael Tavani with a goal of creating “a place in your neighborhood purpose-built to sit with your laptop, grab a coffee, and get some good work done.” There are currently 29 locations including a dozen around Atlanta, plus locations across the southeast. There's also a location in Austin, which opened in mid-June.

They describe themselves as a combination of a coffee shop, college library, and boutique hotel lobby, located in residential neighborhoods. Unlike some other co-working concepts that are in business areas requiring a commute, Switchyards strives to be within 10 minutes of its members' homes.

Each club features a bustling coffee shop look and feel, with quiet areas for focused work, and bookable conference rooms and phone booths for meetings.

Notably, it’s open 24/7, and has free coffee with a cost — $100 a month — that's more like a gym membership. You're given a key and can enter whenever you want. Rather than renting offices, it's a place to go to for a few hours of focused work around others. And members get access to every Switchyards location.

They have some groundrules that include not moving the furniture, no eating full meals (we believe the smells and the mess create a negative experience for everyone else in the club), no work stations, no calls or meetings in quiet spaces, and no speakerphone calls or zooms in public spaces.

Memberships are generally limited and supposedly sell out quickly.

They just opened a location in Austin in mid-June; Switchyards Creative Director Brandon Hinman said “It’s almost like a Ritz-Carlton and a dive bar had a baby. It does have that luxe feel, it does feel generous, it does feel dialed in, but it also has a little bit of ‘Cheers’ to it, a little bit of that neighborhood pub to it, and that’s the balance we’re trying to hit.”

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