The Rail Yard is the culmination of an idea at least two years in the making, an urban beer garden in Little Rock’s increasingly lively East Village.
It’s one day before the Rail Yard’s grand opening on Nov. 15, and its three owners — sisters-in-law Linda and Murry Newbern and their aunt, Virginia Young — look a little shellshocked. The excitement around their establishment has been building, and media coverage has been intense.
And it’s been snowing, not optimal conditions for an outdoor beer garden, though the upcoming weekend promises to be — and is — fine.
But the three graciously make time to discuss their project with Arkansas Business. “We’d been talking about a family business for quite a while, because we each have different skills and talents and we thought, ‘Gosh, it would be so much fun to put those to use,’” Young said.
The inspiration for this family business comes from the Truck Yard in Dallas, which opened five years ago and describes itself as “a come-as-you-are beer garden and adult playground,” in which couples with babies are as welcome as someone celebrating his 60th birthday. Oh, and dogs. Dogs are welcome too.
The Truck Yard hosts a constantly changing lineup of food trucks, but it also serves Philly cheesesteak sandwiches.
This is the model for the Rail Yard, an all-demographics-friendly (dogs too) joint serving local craft beer, specialty cocktails and wine. It, too, is home to a rotating selection of food trucks but has partnered with Kelly Lovell and Walt Todd of Count Porkula BBQ, which is permanently occupying a portion of the facility at 1212 E. Sixth St. and whose barbecue will always be on offer.
Count Porkula pays rent to the Rail Yard and will provide most of the food-serving labor, and the Rail Yard will employ those serving drinks.
The Rail Yard occupies 2,100 SF inside and another 15,000 outside, and it is, indeed, right next to the Union Pacific Railroad track.
The nearly 22,000-SF building — known as the Bike Shop and former home of Ron King’s Recycle Bikes for Kids — is owned by Cromwell Architects Engineers of Little Rock through its 1212 East Sixth LLC, which paid $472,500 for the property in April 2016.
The Newberns and Young would like to have bought their building, but say that by the time they started looking for property in the East Village, whose industrial vibe appealed to them, prices had jumped. The area has attracted some high-profile food and drink enterprises during the last few years, including Lost Forty Brewing, Rebel Kettle Brewing and Cathead’s Diner.
When Little Rock developer Jimmy Moses showed them the 1212 E. Sixth St. property, “we could see it” as the location for the realization of their vision, said Linda Newbern.
Jamie Moses, Jimmy’s son and executive vice president of development at Newmark Moses Tucker Partners, knew that Count Porkula was looking to expand, needing a permanent kitchen and a smokehouse. The Newberns and Young met with Lovell and Todd and “it’s just the best marriage,” Linda Newbern said.
The Rail Yard’s owners have invested “way less than $1 million,” but “we have a lot of skin in the game,” Murry Newbern said.
During a research trip to the Truck Yard in Dallas, they noticed that “it was packed, crowded, but there were all-age people there, including children, and nobody was on their phone,” Linda Newbern said. “Everybody was chatting, interacting and that was the vision that we had.”