A vacant commercial building near Little Elm Parkway and FM 423 could become a rental hall for weddings, showers and company parties, and the town's Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing on the request Thursday.
The applicant is asking for a specific use permit to run a 7,000-square-foot hall inside a newly built, empty 15,509-square-foot shell building about 500 feet northeast of the intersection, part of the Vistas at Silvercreek development. The 1.53-acre site sits in a planned development approved in 2022 that mixes light commercial and townhome zoning.
The applicant calls it an assembly hall, but town planners say the way it would operate fits the banquet hall definition Little Elm added to its code in early 2024: a space rented by individuals or groups for private functions.
How it would work
According to the staff report in the commission's packet:
- Events would be private and by reservation, with hours requested from 8 a.m. to midnight.
- The space would have a bar area and buffet counters but no commercial kitchen. Caterers would bring food prepared elsewhere and keep it warm with canned gel fuel.
- The permit would not allow alcohol sales. Renters would supply their own drinks and bartenders under state alcohol rules.
- Music and activities would stay indoors, with no outdoor entertainment.
- The permit would cap the hall at 138 people for zoning purposes. At one parking space for every four people, that requires 35 spaces; the property has 75, which will have to be shared as other tenants move into the building.
Planners flagged that the floor plans submitted were conceptual and not drawn by a licensed design professional, so the interior is likely to change during building permit review. Because building codes base the finish-out on the size of the space, the suite may have to be built for more than 300 people even though the permit would still limit occupancy to 138.
