With the reconstruction of US 377 approaching, Argyle Town Council is making plans to add landscaping to the medians. 

Council approved an $811,275 advance funding agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation to add equipment necessary for those landscape enhancements, Town Manager Mike Sims said. 

The details: The reconstruction of US 377 will be from south of FM 1171 in Flower Mound to Crawford Road, but Argyle will only pay for median enhancements within town limits, according to town documents. 

The funding will allow TxDOT to install irrigation sleeves, 54 junction boxes and 4,698 linear feet of conduit for future landscaping and electricity, per town documents. 

The $811,275 will also pay for two median breaks to turn into Point Bank and the Waterbrook neighborhood, Sims said. 

Design and Grace opened a new storefront in Argyle in mid-December, Owner Tony Boulton said.

The specifics: The business offers a variety of kitchen supplies and is an authorized dealer for Jura coffee machines, Wüsthof cutlery, Scanpan cookware, Dualit small appliances, and other European kitchenware brands, per its website.

What they're saying: “Design and Grace was founded in 2004 and had a Grapevine store location for 6 years,” Boulton said. “We transitioned to online only for a few years, before relocating to the Argyle Business Park in 2021. Having further expanded our space more recently, we took the decision to dedicate a greater area to a full storefront, to serve the growing community in south Denton County.”

• 308 E. FM 1830, Ste. 3D, Argyle

Denton City Council unanimously approved an economic development agreement and tax abatement with Novartis Gene Therapies at a Dec. 16 meeting.

If Novartis chooses to move forward with the project, the company will invest $280 million into a new manufacturing facility located at 2101 Shady Oaks Drive.

“This would not only be a win for the city of Denton, but for DFW and the state of Texas,” Director of Economic Development Brittany Sotelo said.

The details: Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical corporation formed in 1996, is the eighth-largest pharmaceutical company in the world by revenue, selling products in 118 countries, according to city documents.

The company is considering the purchase of an existing three-building, special-use facility totaling around 50,000 square feet on 20 acres in Denton.

The impact: This project has the potential to generate $4.8 million in revenue over 10 years for the city, Sotelo said.