Barnes & Noble has signed a lease to open a bookstore and cafe at the planned Lutherville Station redevelopment, becoming the much-delayed project’s first retail tenant.

The store will take over a 17,800-square-foot space currently occupied by an Overstock Outlet and previously home to a Borders bookstore. It’s expected to open in late 2026 or early 2027 and serve as an anchor for a mixed-use development project about eight years in the making.

The location will include a B&N Cafe, an in-store coffee shop offering Starbucks beverages and baked goods.

“We are thrilled to welcome Barnes & Noble to Lutherville Station,” developer Mark Renbaum, a principal of Lutherville Station LLC, said in a news release. “Barnes & Noble is exactly the kind of experiential retailer that helps create a sense of place and community that will further position Lutherville Station as a regional destination.”

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The Lutherville Station site is currently a largely empty parking lot next to a Light Rail station that connects Baltimore County to the city and Anne Arundel County. Renbaum has sought for years to turn the location into a mixed-use, transit-oriented project with apartments, retail stores and green space.

But much of the development has been paused after local residents objected to the proposed housing, citing concerns with traffic and school overcrowding. The blowback led Baltimore County Councilman Wade Kach to downzone the site and Renbaum to scale back the project by 200 units.

The developer, though, has long said he planned to push forward with the project.

Eric Rockel, president of the Greater Timonium Community Council, said he welcomes the Barnes & Noble and sees the development’s retail component as positive.

“The issue has been for a long time the amount of residential use on the property, not that people would object to commercial uses,” Rockel said. “It’s always been finding that harmony and adequacy between the two uses.”

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Barnes & Noble’s arrival in Lutherville will mark the latest step in the chain bookstore’s resurgence. The company opened dozens of stores last year, including locations in Pasadena and Westminster. Another 60 openings were scheduled across the country by June 2026, USA Today reported.

The company already has stores in Pikesville and White Marsh.

“We are thrilled to bring Barnes & Noble to Lutherville Station and to become part of this exciting new chapter for the community,” said Janine Flanigan, the company’s vice president of store planning and design, in a news release. “This location, with its strong neighborhood presence, is a wonderful home for our bookstore and cafe.”

In its release, Lutherville Station LLC said additional leasing announcements will be made as the redevelopment progresses.