What's New in Downtown Celina and What's Open Now

Recent City of Celina announcements have covered three downtown projects: a $15 million entertainment district extension, a downtown center with a library and a rooftop deck, and a newly acquired building planned for a public patio. Each is at a different stage.

The parking garage behind the future library was completed in December 2025 and has been mostly empty since then. The city bought the building in January 2026 to activate as a gathering space, and its use is still under review. Open businesses at Celina Station sit a few blocks off the square.

The Downtown Center offers the clearest example of how those timelines differ.

Downtown Center's Opening Target Has Shifted

The Downtown Center was supposed to be the anchor. A 115,245-square-foot building with a 26,209-square-foot library, city offices, and a rooftop community space, all replacing the 2,400-square-foot library currently squeezed onto Ohio Street. Early city materials pointed to a winter 2026 opening. As recently as July, the city's own communications still described it that way.

Then, in the same week, City Manager Robert Ranc told Community Impact the real target is February 2027. The parking garage, the first phase, wrapped construction in December 2025 and has almost 400 free spaces sitting ready. The building it was built to serve is still scheduled for February 2027.

For now, the completed garage is the only finished phase of the Downtown Center.

Trackside Junction Has Been Announced, With No Start Date Yet

In mid-July 2026, the city and the Celina Economic Development Corporation announced Trackside Junction, a $15 million public-private project with Nack Development, the group behind projects in Frisco's Rail District, Old Town Lewisville, and downtown Mansfield. The plan adds 15,000 square feet of retail, restaurant, office, event, and residential space, and uses Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone funding for the first time on a specific downtown project.

Mayor Ryan Tubbs framed it as a continuation of the square's identity, not a departure from it:

"Downtown is where our story began, and it's where we continue to invest in our future."

No construction start date has been announced. This is a signed partnership and a funding mechanism, which matters for the square's trajectory, but it is not yet a place you can walk into.

The Forge's Future Use Is Still Under Review

In January 2026, the city closed on The Forge, a 4,600-square-foot building at 132 N. Louisiana Drive. The plan is to activate the rear patio as flexible space for downtown events and public gatherings. As of the most recent city update, staff are still reviewing proposals for how the building itself gets used. No opening date has been set for either the patio or the building.

These projects are at different stages:

The Downtown Center, Trackside Junction, and The Forge are at different stages. Celina Station already has open businesses and apartments a few blocks from the square.

A Few Blocks South, The Openings Already Happened

Celina Station is an 18-acre development from Allan Retail Group at Preston Road and Ash Street, close enough to the square to walk but branded as its own district. Its businesses and apartments have opened, while the civic projects remain at different stages.

Fourteen Eighteen Coffee opened its location there in 2025, across from a public half-acre park. My Swim Buddy opened a 4,900-square-foot swim center the same year. PRIISM Golf brought in a golf simulator space. The Depot, a 700-unit apartment community built into the same footprint, opened its first units on February 6, 2026, giving the district a built-in resident base that the square itself doesn't have yet.

Celina Station's openings offer a point of comparison with the civic projects.

Costco Opened In August 2026

Costco opened on August 26, 2026. Local trackers had the exterior finished, the signage installed, and the landscaping planted months before the doors opened.

The city's projects involve financing structures and construction sequencing that a single retail box doesn't, so their timelines are not directly comparable.

What Actually Fills Your Calendar This Fall

None of this means there's nothing to do downtown between now and the Downtown Center's eventual opening. The square's recurring calendar is unaffected by any of the delays above, and fall is when it gets busiest.

Celina Oktoberfest takes over the square on October 3, complete with a keg tapping and the dachshund derby that's become one of the sillier fixtures of the season. Beware! of the Square follows on October 24 with a haunted house and trick-or-treating built around the same storefronts. Friday Night Markets continue to bring vendors and live music to the square on a recurring schedule through the fall.

One event worth a note of caution: some 2026 festival listings show the Celina Troubadour Festival as canceled for its usual October date, while other sources still list it as planned for November with a date to be announced. If that one matters to you, it's worth checking the city's own events page closer to the date rather than relying on any single calendar right now.

The Square Isn't Behind. It's Just Not All Arriving At Once

The downtown projects are moving on different timelines: the library's opening target has shifted, Trackside Junction has not begun construction, and The Forge's use is still under review. The result is a staggered picture of downtown investment.

For now, the actual daily texture of living near downtown Celina runs through Celina Station's coffee shop and swim center, through the Friday Night Market and the fall festival calendar on the square itself, and through a Costco that opened exactly when it said it would. The library, the entertainment district, and The Forge will get their turn. They're just not it yet.

If you're weighing what a fast-growing square like this means for property values, timing, or which pocket of Celina fits your plans, Parthvi Shah has been tracking this market closely and can walk you through what's actually driving demand here. Book an appointment to talk through it.