General Contractor in Lewisville, TX: Old Town to SH 121

Lewisville is really two places stitched together. The older one grew up around Main and Mill streets, then boomed in the 1970s and 1980s with brick houses, apartment complexes, and strip centers. The newer one is Castle Hills, the master-planned community along SH 121 that officially joined the city in November 2021. Together they come to 139,006 people in the Census Bureau’s July 2025 estimate.

That mix decides the work: a suite in an older center on Business 121 one day, a 1975 ranch house that needs its kitchen opened up the next. We take both, commercial first, from our office at 7950 Legacy Drive in Plano, about 25 minutes east of Old Town on the Sam Rayburn Tollway. Castle Hills is closer still.

We haven’t finished a project inside Lewisville’s city limits yet. Our closest work sits on either side of it: Calibration Brain & Body, a 4,250 SF wellness and media studio conversion in Frisco delivered in five weeks, and Pizza Twist, a 2,000 SF restaurant build-out in Irving phased around service hours.

Old Town is filling in around Main and Mill

Lewisville’s historic core has hard edges. The city’s Old Town development rules draw it at I-35E on the west, College Street on the north, Railroad Street on the east, and Purnell Street on the south. Inside that box, projects fall under the Old Town Development Ordinance and go before the Old Town Design Review Committee.

The buildings carry their history on their faces. According to the city’s history timeline, fire tore through the north side of Main Street in 1895, in 1912, and again in 1918, when it took six brick buildings plus several wooden ones and pushed residents to incorporate the town. The oldest structure still standing is an 1885 building on Main that now houses the Greater Lewisville Community Theater.

Now the blocks around them are filling with neighbors. The city’s Old Town plan lists Aura Old Town, Legacy Pointe, Main and Mill Street Lofts, Old Town Station, and others, together adding more than 1,500 homes within a ten-minute walk of Main and Mill. Wayne Ferguson Plaza, new streetscaping, and a city deal that put three new restaurants on one block of Church Street got that started.

West Main Street in Old Town, inside the district bounded by I-35E, College, Railroad, and Purnell streets.

More residents mean old rooms taking on new uses. A storefront that sold dry goods a century ago can become a kitchen, but it’ll need a grease interceptor, plumbing under the slab, a path for the hood exhaust, and an accessible restroom nobody planned for in 1920.

The city puts money on the table. Lewisville’s 2026 economic incentive policy offers Old Town facade grants of up to 50% of eligible improvements or $40,000 per building, whichever is less, and a grease trap grant of up to 50% or $10,000. A separate Small Business Assistance Grant covers up to half of interior build-out, life-safety, and accessibility costs, capped at $10,000, for qualifying small businesses in focus areas that include Old Town, the I-35E corridor, and the Business 121 corridor.

Apply for the grant before anyone swings a hammer. Lewisville won’t fund work that started before the application went in.

Old Town applicants also need the design committee’s approval for exterior work, so we put both steps ahead of demolition.

I-35E, SH 121, and Lewisville’s four gateways

Most of Lewisville’s commercial space hangs off two highways. I-35E runs north and south through the middle of town, and the state rebuilt it between 2013 and 2018. The Federal Highway Administration’s 35Express profile describes a $1.4 billion first phase that added reversible express lanes and a new southbound bridge over Lewisville Lake, which opened in September 2016.

The city’s plan sorts the rest into four gateways, and its gateways chapter is the clearest map of who’s where:

• Southern Gateway, I-35E at SH 121. The mall that opened as Vista Ridge Mall in 1989 has lost nearly all its anchors, and the city wants the property remade as a mixed-use urban village. West of DCTA’s Hebron 121 Station, more than 1,800 urban residential units are already built, with 43 vacant acres waiting on the east side.
• Northern Gateway, by the lake. Tower Bay Lofts and the Village at Lewisville add 1,108 residential units and 6 acres of commercial space on either side of I-35E.
• Eastern Gateway, SH 121 at Josey Lane. Large retail centers on the Josey Lane corners, the Realm at Castle Hills, and industrial buildings south of Plano Parkway along Tittle Drive.
• Southwestern Gateway, Business 121. Distribution warehouses, manufacturing, and professional offices along West Round Grove Road, with many international companies and DFW Airport close by.

Along the interstate, the I-35E Corridor Overlay District, adopted in 2018, adds design requirements, so plan a new building face with them in mind.

Vista Ridge Mall’s food court entrance in October 2025. The mall opened in 1989 at the Southern Gateway, where I-35E meets SH 121.

Medical City and the Main Street interchange

Construction on a hospital at Main Street and I-35E began in 1974, and it opened in 1976. Today it’s Medical City Lewisville. If you’re a physician, therapist, or wellness operator who wants to be near it, the suites you tour will ask more of a builder than a retail fit-out: sinks in exam rooms, dedicated circuits for equipment, sound control between rooms, and restrooms sized for patients. Calibration, our Frisco wellness conversion, shows how we sequence that work.

Medical City Lewisville, open at Main Street and I-35E since 1976.

Warehouses on Business 121 and Tittle Drive

Lewisville works for a living. The city’s plan counts nearly 49,000 jobs here, and two of its four gateways are built around warehouses, manufacturing, and offices. Those buildings need finished office space: reception, a break room, restrooms, and conference rooms framed inside a warehouse shell, often with HVAC the shell doesn’t have yet. Our office build-out work covers that scope.

Read a Lewisville building before you sign

Lewisville builds in layers, and each one changes the cost.

• Old Town masonry, 1885 onward. Brick walls, original storefront openings, and floors patched for a century. Cut a new opening and you have a structural question. Change the street face and you have a design committee.
• The boom, 1970 to 1990. Lewisville had 9,264 residents in 1970, 24,273 in 1980, and 46,521 in 1990. The city’s own history says entire neighborhoods went up “seemingly overnight” in the 1970s, and the 1980s made Lewisville an employment center. Strip centers and offices from those decades hold much of today’s second-generation space.
• The mall ring, 1989. Vista Ridge and the retail strip east of I-35E near SH 121.
• Castle Hills, from 1998. The city and developer Bright Realty approved their partnership in 1996, and the first residents moved in two years later, Community Impact reported when the 2,568-acre community was annexed.
• Urban infill, 2010s and on. Lofts and townhomes in Old Town, at Hebron 121 Station, and in the Northern Gateway.

The city’s plan is candid about the oldest commercial stock: it encourages converting older garden apartment complexes and aging strip centers into mixed-use neighborhoods. For a tenant, that means most suites you tour have had several occupants. A 1980s space might come with a usable storefront and a ceiling grid hiding ductwork sized for a shoe store.

Illustrative: a 1980s office suite mid-conversion into a clinic, with exam rooms framed and hand-sink rough-ins in place.

So we walk it before you sign. What’s above the ceiling? Is the electrical service big enough? Does the old restroom meet today’s accessibility standards? Those answers move a budget more than finishes do, and they’re where our tenant improvement work starts.

Permits, plan review, and the CO at 151 West Church

City Hall, pictured at the top of this page, is where it happens. Building Services requires a permit for new construction, remodeling, changes, and additions, a list that runs from signs and fences to rewiring, mechanical, and plumbing work. Applications, payments, and inspection requests go through the city’s MGO Connect portal.

A few Lewisville specifics worth knowing before you hire anyone:

• The code is 2021. Lewisville enforces the 2021 international codes and the 2020 National Electrical Code, so drawings done for a city on a newer cycle may need adjusting.
• Contractors register every year. A general contractor pays $80 annually, per the city’s permit and fee schedule, and the registration requirements call for at least $100,000 in liability coverage with the City of Lewisville named as certificate holder.
• Commercial submittals are specific. The city’s commercial plan review checklist asks for a code analysis, a life safety plan, a reflected ceiling plan, underground and above-ground plumbing plans, an energy compliance report, and an asbestos survey for any demolition. Projects valued at $50,000 or more must include TDLR documentation.

The CO comes before the doors open

“A building or structure shall not be used or occupied … until the building official has issued a certificate of occupancy.”

From the City of Lewisville’s certificate of occupancy page.

Lewisville’s certificate of occupancy rules cover a change of ownership, tenant, business name, or use, plus new construction and any building that’s enlarged or altered. Each suite files separately, and a new shell building gets a certificate of completion instead. On a commercial alteration, the city’s inspection document guidelines say the CO application must be in before you can request the building final, so we file it early.

Fire review: sprinklers, alarms, and hoods

Lewisville’s commercial sprinkler requirements set a lower threshold than many owners expect: sprinklers in new buildings over 3,600 square feet of fire area, in remodels or additions that push a footprint past 3,600 square feet, and in any single-tenant expansion over 12,000 square feet that needs a new CO. Fire alarm, fire sprinkler, and fixed suppression permits (the usual category for a kitchen hood system) are separate applications in MGO Connect.

Restaurants answer to Health Services too

Food adds an office down the hall. Lewisville’s Health Services Division, also at City Hall, charges $300 for plan review and $275 to $400 for the health permit depending on menu risk, according to the fee schedule effective November 15, 2025. Its food service inspection rules require a food handler permit for every food worker within 45 days of hire and a certified food manager on every shift.

MASACO’s nearby work in Irving: Pizza Twist, a 2,000 SF restaurant build-out finished while the restaurant stayed open.

Pizza Twist, with its full kitchen installation and utility connections, is the model we’d bring to a Lewisville kitchen. Our restaurant construction page goes deeper.

Castle Hills has a second review

Castle Hills properties follow private design standards run by the Castle Hills Commercial Association or the Castle Hills Residential Association. The city doesn’t enforce them, but its Castle Hills notice has to be signed and uploaded with every permit application there, confirming either the association’s approval or that you know it can fine you. We get the association’s sign-off first, for homes and storefronts alike.

Remodeling Lewisville homes from the 1970s on

The boom shaped the housing. In 1968 Lewisville High School moved west of most development, to FM 1171 and Valley Parkway, and in 1969 the city annexed the 2,500-acre Lewisville Valley area. The city’s timeline says those moves started a shift from east to west, just before the population more than doubled.

Houses from that era have their own checklist. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s guide to aluminum wiring says cables installed between 1965 and the mid-1970s in new homes and additions may contain aluminum, so we open a few boxes before we price an electrical scope.

• Kitchens. A 1970s kitchen is often closed off from the den by a wall that may or may not carry load. Taking it out, adding an island, and rerouting plumbing through the slab is a common request.
• Bathrooms. Houses of that age often have hall baths with tub and shower combos and short vanities. We keep the tub where it works, retile, fix ventilation, and add blocking for grab bars while the walls are open.
• Whole-home remodels. When the kitchen, baths, floors, and lighting all date from the same year, one permit and one schedule usually beats three projects.

Illustrative: a 1970s hall bath rebuilt around its original tub, with navy tile, a walnut vanity, and a new exhaust fan.

Thinking about turning the garage into a bedroom? Check the parking rules first. Lewisville’s Unified Development Code requires one parking space in a residential garage plus two in the driveway for a single-family detached house. A backyard cottage may be the cleaner route to more room: Building Services lists backyard cottages as a permit type, and the city’s neighborhoods plan called for expanded opportunities to build them.

The residential alteration permit costs $0.56 per square foot, trade work included. The city’s Building Services FAQ adds two rules worth hearing. You can do your own electrical, plumbing, or mechanical work only if you own the house and it carries a homestead exemption on Denton County Appraisal District records. And never take out a permit for your contractor, because whoever accepts the permit may be held liable for correcting work that fails code.

Three Lewisville landmarks

City Hall, at the top of the page, opened in Old Town in 2003, and the Old Town reinvestment zone helped pay for it and for the arts center nearby. Here are two more places every local knows.

Lewisville Lake and its dam

Construction on Lewisville Dam began in 1948 and finished in 1954, expanding the old Garza-Little Elm Reservoir to 29,592 acres with a maximum depth of 67 feet. The Corps of Engineers didn’t officially rename it Lewisville Lake until 1971. Below the dam, the Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area manages Corps land south to Business 121, with the city, Lewisville ISD, and the University of North Texas as participants, according to the city’s Green Centerpiece plan.

Lewisville Lake and Dam from the air, with the Elm Fork bottomland below the dam.

The Grand Theater and Wayne Ferguson Plaza

The city-owned arts center opened in Old Town in 2011 under a hospital naming-rights deal and has been the Lewisville Grand Theater since 2021. Across West Church Street from City Hall sits Wayne Ferguson Plaza, named for Wayne Ferguson, who was elected mayor in 1983. Old Town also hosts Western Days, which the city says draws more than 50,000 people in one weekend.

The city-owned Grand Theater in Old Town, photographed in 2019 under a former sponsor’s name.

How a Lewisville project runs with MASACO

Our process is the same for a Business 121 warehouse office and a Lewisville Valley kitchen.

1. Understand. We walk the building with you and read the lease, the HOA rules, or the Old Town guidelines.
2. Visualize. 3D renderings come before any price.
3. Plan. A fixed-scope proposal broken out by trade, every allowance listed.
4. Execute. A single project manager files with Building Services, coordinates fire and health review, and sends written photo updates each week.
5. Deliver. As-builts, permits, inspection records, the CO, and warranties in one close-out package.
6. Support. After handover, we still pick up the phone.

MASACO is woman- and minority-owned, led by Sara Bannat, Founder and CEO, and Mahmoud Abu Saad, COO, and a Goldman Sachs Preferred Vendor. Need a general contractor in Lewisville, TX, for an Old Town storefront, a suite off I-35E, or a 1970s house that’s ready for real work? Book a consultation, bring the lease or a photo of the kitchen, and we’ll come back with a design you can see and a scope in writing.

Building in Lewisville: what to know.

Lewisville grew from 9,264 residents in 1970 to 46,521 in 1990, a boom the city says put up entire neighborhoods seemingly overnight, and Castle Hills, annexed in November 2021, added a newer master-planned layer along SH 121. Commercial space follows I-35E, Business 121, and SH 121, from the historic Old Town core at Main and Mill to distribution buildings near DFW Airport. Building Services at City Hall, 151 West Church Street, issues permits and certificates of occupancy under the 2021 international codes.

Lewisville neighborhoods and districts.

• Old Town
• Old Town North
• Uptown Village
• South Village
• Castle Hills
• The Realm at Castle Hills
• Lewisville Valley
• Hebron 121 Station
• Vista Ridge
• Tower Bay Lofts
• Southwest Lewisville
• Business 121 Corridor

Lewisville on the map.

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