Hobby Lobby is gearing up for a return to Meyerland Plaza, with fresh permit filings and local coverage pointing to a major redo of one of the center's long-empty anchors at Beechnut and Loop 610. The Oklahoma City-based arts-and-crafts chain is aiming at a prominent corner box that has been dark for years, setting the stage for yet another big-box shuffle at the southwest Houston shopping hub.
Plans Flag 69,134-Square-Foot Overhaul and 2026 Start
The company has filed plans to renovate about 69,134 square feet at Meyerland Plaza, with construction projected to start in August 2026 and wrap up in March 2027, at an estimated cost of $3.5 million, according to Realty News Report, which cites records on the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation project portal. The documents identify the former Palais Royal anchor, vacant since a wave of department-store closures in 2020, as the likely home for the new store. The filing is still an early planning move; a signed lease and city permits would have to follow before any visible construction kicks off.
Meyerland Plaza’s Redevelopment Push
Meyerland Plaza is owned and managed by Fidelis Realty Partners and has been steadily reworked in recent years, including a 2020 expansion that brought in a two-story H-E-B, according to the center's marketing materials. Fidelis Realty Partners pitches the 1957-era power center as a high-traffic hard-corner destination at Loop 610 and Beechnut, and the landlord has focused on carving older department-store shells into formats that suit today’s big-box and discount chains. That kind of repositioning helps explain how a single large vacancy can draw national tenants like Hobby Lobby.
Hobby Lobby’s Old Meyerland Footprint Found a New Tenant
The chain previously operated nearby inside the Loop, but that space has already been recycled. Academy Sports + Outdoors opened a Meyerland store in November 2022 in the former Hobby Lobby location, according to an Academy press release on the site’s debut. Academy Sports + Outdoors said the Meyerland opening was part of its 2022 Houston expansion. The shuffle is classic inner-loop real estate, where anchors regularly trade places as landlords chase conversion-ready footprints and retailers hunt for the right-sized box.
Chain Keeps Adding Texas Stores
Hobby Lobby says it now operates more than 1,000 stores nationwide, and the company recently added a 55,000-square-foot location in Mont Belvieu in July 2025, according to a corporate newsroom update. Hobby Lobby highlighted that opening as part of its push for large, single-tenant spaces across Texas markets. If the Meyerland filing results in a signed deal, the proposed store would be somewhat larger than that Mont Belvieu footprint, hinting at a significant interior build-out.
What Meyerland Shoppers Could See
For Meyerland Plaza regulars, the return of a national arts-and-crafts player would plug a noticeable hole in the center's lineup, potentially bring seasonal jobs, and drive more traffic to neighboring shops. The plaza has already scored new anchors such as Nordstrom Rack as part of its tenant remix. Nordstrom Rack announced a Meyerland location last year, and local real-estate coverage has noted a steady churn of replacements that has whittled down vacancies. In general, landlords slice up or reconfigure old department-store boxes into layouts that work for modern big-box brands, then court national chains to fill them.
Key hurdles remain before any Hobby Lobby signage goes up. Lease terms, permits, and construction financing all have to come together, and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing cited in local reporting is still only an early, if concrete, sign of interest. As of the reporting reviewed, neither Hobby Lobby nor Fidelis had issued public comments tied directly to the filing. Hoodline will keep an eye on lease records and city permits for any firm confirmation.
