After more than a year behind construction fencing, the Roy and Helen Hall Memorial Library in downtown McKinney is set to reopen in December with a feature few public libraries can claim: its own planetarium. The building at 101 E. Hunt St. has sat closed since June 2025, and the city says the overhaul will bring a full-dome theater, a dedicated exhibit gallery and new spaces built specifically for teens and kids.
According to Community Impact Newspaper, the library is scheduled to open in December 2026 in downtown McKinney, with a grand opening celebration planned from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 5. McKinney's public library system announced the celebration in a Facebook post on Oct. 21, the outlet reported. A city of McKinney spokesperson separately confirmed to the outlet that the library itself will open Dec. 1, ahead of the public festivities four days later.
A Year-Plus Closure for a Major Overhaul
The library closed to the public on June 13, 2025, for what was expected to be a roughly one-year construction period, the outlet's earlier reporting noted. The McKinney City Council approved a contract for the renovation at its July 1 meeting that year, and Crossland Construction Company Inc., based in Prosper, had already been chosen in late 2024 to serve as construction manager at risk for the project. The council's July resolution authorized an amendment to a guaranteed maximum price agreement for Crossland's services totaling just over $16.3 million, the outlet reported.
Funding figures for the project vary depending on the source. The city's contract amendment allocated $20 million in Certificates of Obligation bond funds for the renovation, per the outlet's reporting, while a filing reviewed by zabalist.com lists the estimated cost at $16 million. That same filing describes the work as a two-story, 33,000-square-foot renovation of the existing facility, with the City of McKinney listed as project owner and 720 design named as the design firm of record.
New Layout Built Around Teens, Exhibits and a Dome
The renovation will change the library's overall layout, create new youth- and teen-specific spaces, and improve access to materials, according to the city website as cited by the outlet's reporting. A dedicated space is also being added for the library's local history collection, along with additional restrooms, two elevators and nine reservable study rooms, per the outlet's earlier coverage.
The centerpiece addition is a 26-foot, 55-person, full-dome planetarium, the outlet reported in its April 2025 coverage. Next to it, builders are adding a 2,500-square-foot exhibit space designed to host rotating and interactive exhibits, including traveling museum displays, according to that same reporting.
An Arts Commission Tie-In for the Dome's Exterior
The planetarium's design has also become a small art project in its own right. The renovation is a joint effort between the City of McKinney and the McKinney Arts Commission, according to artjobs.com, which notes that selected artwork is intended to be translated into a perforated metal panel on the planetarium's exterior.
By the standards of typical Collin County renovation projects, this one stands out in scale. The estimated $16 million cost is far above the $220,000 median for similar renovation and alteration projects in the county, and the project's scheduled 425-day build window is more than four times the county's 92-day median, according to the zabalist.com filing.
