Key Takeaways
- Hope Center Sportsplex will be a 65,639-square-foot indoor sports facility built at a cost of $9.5 million in Webster, Texas.
- Construction begins July 2026, with an estimated completion date of July 1, 2027, per the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
- The facility will host basketball, volleyball, pickleball, and indoor soccer (futsal), along with multisport training and events.
- Founders Raymond Steward and Shonbay Jones also lead Hope Active, a 2017-founded nonprofit serving at-risk youth in the Houston region.
- The project links a nonprofit youth development mission with a competition-grade facility serving the Houston Bay Area suburb.
A New Indoor Anchor for Houston’s Bay Area Suburbs
Webster, a Houston-area suburb best known for its proximity to NASA and the Bay Area sports community, is set to gain a major indoor sports facility. Hope Center Sportsplex will break ground in July 2026 on a 65,639-square-foot building with a $9.5 million construction budget. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation lists the project on its public TABS registry, with a one-year construction timeline ending July 1, 2027.
The project is led by Houston natives Raymond Steward and Shonbay Jones, who are positioning the venue as an indoor performance center serving athletes across age and skill levels.
Multi-Sport Programming and Facility Scope
The facility plans to host basketball, volleyball, pickleball, indoor soccer (futsal), and additional multisport training and events. That mix mirrors the operating model used by many of the largest youth-focused indoor sportsplexes nationally, where flexible courts and turf can be configured for league play, tournaments, clinics, and rentals.
At more than 65,000 square feet, Hope Center will fall into the mid-to-large tier of indoor youth sports facilities, large enough to host multi-court events while remaining smaller than the 100,000-plus-square-foot mega-complexes that have driven national tournament travel in recent years.
Nonprofit Roots Shape the Operating Model
Steward and Jones bring an existing community infrastructure to the project through Hope Active, a Houston nonprofit they founded in 2017. The organization focuses on at-risk youth and under-resourced communities, providing mentorship, resources, and family support.
That nonprofit foundation is uncommon among new private sportsplex developments, which are typically built as for-profit ventures backed by private equity, family offices, or local investor groups. The pairing of a community-service mission with a competition-focused facility could position Hope Center to combine paid programming with subsidized access for local youth, though specific membership, pricing, and access details have not been disclosed.
What to Watch as Construction Begins
The Houston metro has seen steady investment in youth sports facilities over the past five years, driven by population growth and the expansion of travel sports across basketball, volleyball, and soccer. Webster sits within the Clear Creek school district footprint, an area with strong participation in court and field sports.
Key questions for operators and investors watching this project include the programming partner mix, whether Hope Center will pursue regional or national tournament contracts, and how the nonprofit and facility entities will be financially structured. With a 2027 opening, the project will land in a market where demand for court time continues to outpace supply across most major metros.
Source: Chron, Eddie Maisonet, May 20, 2026
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