McKinney approves site plan exception for new Chuy’s in West Grove

Chuy’s Tex-Mex could be serving tacos and enchiladas in West Grove before the end of 2026 after McKinney approved a site plan exception for the new restaurant at 8405 W. University Drive. The Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously April 28 to reduce the required street landscape buffer from 25 feet to 20 feet, clearing a key step for the 6,555-square-foot building planned on the 1.92-acre site.

The change matters because it adjusts how the restaurant fits along West University Drive, one of the main fronts in McKinney’s fast-growing dining corridor. City staff said the request met the criteria for buffer reductions under McKinney’s Unified Development Code, and the Chuy’s item was handled as a public hearing for a design exception rather than a routine staff action. The reduction matches the buffer decreases already approved for two restaurants west of the proposed Chuy’s site, keeping the streetscape consistent across that stretch of the development.

West Grove itself has become one of McKinney’s most closely watched growth projects. The 52-acre mixed-use development at U.S. Highway 380 and Custer Road is anchored by Whole Foods and is expected to include about 500,000 square feet of retail, dining, office, residential and entertainment space. The first two phases were already open by May 2025, while major infrastructure work had been in place since construction began in the first quarter of 2023. Chuy’s adds another recognizable brand to the project as the site continues to fill out.

For nearby residents and other West Grove tenants, the new restaurant signals more than another name on a tenant list. It points to visible construction activity along West University Drive and to the kind of national dining brand that can shape how the corridor feels day to day. Chuy’s opened April 16, 1982, in Austin on Barton Springs Road, and the company’s eclectic Tex-Mex identity has helped it grow well beyond Central Texas. Darden Restaurants completed its acquisition of Chuy’s on Oct. 11, 2024, in an all-cash deal valued at about $605 million, and said the chain operates more than 100 restaurants across 15 states, including locations in Frisco and Plano.