⚽ Sweden picked Frisco... yes, really

Sweden's national soccer team has officially selected Toyota Stadium as their World Cup 2026 base camp. After punching their ticket to the tournament with a 3-2 win over Poland on March 31, Sweden locked in Frisco as home base. The team will train at Toyota Stadium and stay at the Westin Stonebriar Golf Resort and Spa between matches.

Their Group F game against Japan is scheduled for June 25 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

A few things to know:

And here's a fun one: Hermann Johansson, a Swedish midfielder who also plays for FC Dallas, will be training on his home turf. The guy commutes to his World Cup prep. Respect.

If you've driven the tollway near 380 lately, you've probably noticed the dirt moving at the corner of the Dallas North Tollway and Hwy 380 at PGA Parkway. That's Firefly Park, and it just got louder.

Wilks Development broke ground this month on a $25 million civil and landscaping phase at the Firefly Park retail site. This isn't a building yet - it's the bones: grading, infrastructure, and landscape work that runs through September 2027. The filings are with the Texas Department of Licensing and Registration.

Here's the big picture on Firefly Park:

Phase one is targeting Fall 2027, and the first confirmed retail tenant is TYLER'S, the athletic apparel and footwear brand, signing on for 16,000+ square feet in the flagship residential tower.

I'll be honest: every few months I hear another Firefly Park update and think "okay, this is getting real." A $25 million landscaping phase is a different kind of real.

The trails and ponds alone have me thinking about what life looks like for my kids in three or four years. My 4-year-old is already obsessed with any body of water she can throw rocks into. Five natural ponds? She's going to lose her mind.

This story has been going on longer than my youngest has been alive, so let me catch you up.

A proposed auto repair and muffler shop just north of Frisco's Rail District, near the intersection of North County Road and All Stars Avenue, is back before the Planning and Zoning Commission for the third time. The April 14 meeting is the next date to watch.

The backstory: Applicant Jon Carter Ferguson has been trying to get a special use permit for this location since summer 2024. The P&Z Commission approved a previous version, but Frisco City Council denied it last spring. Now he's back with a modified permit request.

The tension: The site sits about 157 feet from the nearest residential zoning in Meadow Hill Estates. City ordinance requires auto-related uses to be at least 250 feet away. That gap is the heart of the objection.

Neighbors are not thrilled. The city has received 68 project input forms: 56 in opposition, 12 in support. Residents have raised concerns about noise and traffic. One Meadow Hill Estates resident put it plainly: "No matter how many times or creative ways the owner of Miller Muffler tries to push this through, the facts remain. He's too close."

Ferguson says exhaust work would only be 30% of the business, with the rest being general maintenance like alignments and suspension work. If approved, the permit would be tied to the property, not the owner, and would only be valid for three years before requiring renewal.

The April 14 P&Z meeting is the next step.

I don't have a horse in this race personally, but I do think this kind of zoning tension is worth paying attention to as Frisco fills in. The Rail District area is evolving fast. How the city manages the edges between commercial and residential will matter a lot for neighborhoods like Meadow Hill Estates. Watching closely.

Not maliciously. But maybe a little.

Here's the thing: Zillow's average Frisco home value is $653,858. Sounds great. But the median home actually sold for $582,583 last month. That's a $70,000 gap between what the algorithm thinks your house is worth and what a real buyer handed over at closing.

And 79.6% of Frisco homes are selling under list price right now. Median days to pending: 64.

So here's the real question worth asking before you list:

Is your pricing strategy built around a Zestimate or around what Frisco buyers are actually paying in your zip code right now?

Those are two very different numbers. And in this market, the difference between an agent who knows Frisco's micro-trends and one who doesn't could be $30K, $50K, or more in your pocket.

Emily runs a local agent referral service, free to sellers, that matches you with agents who have the actual pricing track record for your specific neighborhood. Not a national platform's best guess.

Book a free call with Emily here.