The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will hold grand open- ing ceremonies next month for its Stella Boyle Smith Music Center in the emerging East Village neighborhood of Little Rock. The $11.75 million facility is ASO’s first permanent home in its 59-year history.

Ground was broken on the center in August 2023 following a lengthy fundraising effort. ASO performances still will be held at the Robinson Center downtown (which underwent its own $70 million renovation before reopening in late 2016), but the new 20,000-square-foot facility will host smaller performances, music education classes and more as home of the Lee Ronnel Music Academy and Morgan Hall.

East Village has taken off in recent years, with Cromwell Architects Engineers moving its headquarters to a renovated building now known as The Paint Factory. Sterling Market serves food inside The Paint Factory. There was also the expansion of eStem Public Charter Schools into the neighborhood. Businesses such as Lost Forty Brewing and Camp Taco made East Village hip.

The building on East Sixth Street that houses The Paint Factory was constructed in 1947. But there’s also new construction. A prime example is Southern Tail Brewing, the dream of Brent and Tracy Cryder. The brewery and restaurant will be pet-friendly, thus the name Southern Tail.

“We’ve been on this journey since 2019,” Tracy told me as we toured the building. “That’s how long we’ve been talking about it. We liked the feel of this neighborhood. The fact that there already are breweries in the area is a plus for us.”

The 11,000-square-foot facility will seat more than 150 people inside. There also will be extensive outside seating. Though the project was delayed by the pandemic, Tracy said it gave them time to reflect on how best to create a place for people to gather with their pets.

Both owners have corporate backgrounds, but Brent became involved in home brewing and also was on the competition barbecue circuit.

“We started winning awards, and it just became a passion of mine,” he said. “When I get involved in something, I dive in deeply. The thing about brewing is that there’s an infinite number of levels of creativity. When you go from home brewing to commercial brewing, though, you have to think about things from a different perspective. We haven’t gotten in a hurry because I wanted to make sure what we did was right.”

The couple’s property on East Ninth Street previously was home to a car wash and detailing facility. Brent says the couple loves Arkansas, people and dogs and wants to serve all three. A portion of the proceeds from Southern Tail will go to support animal charities.

“Our dream has always been to make great beer, great food and include a charity component of saving as many animals as we can,” he said. “That will always be our priority.”

East Village may have lost Lyon College’s dental and veterinary schools (the dental school will be in Little Rock’s Riverdale neighborhood and the veterinary school will be in Cabot), but there are still big things on the horizon. The Clinton Presidential Center is in the early stages of planning a major expansion. Meanwhile, the Artspace Windgate campus will be the home of dozens of artists with 60 live-work units.

There’s also the possibility of a deck park over Interstate 30. It will connect East Village to the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, which has received rave reviews since opening last year.

Artists and their families will be actively recruited to Arkansas. In addition to the live-work units, there will be 10 artist-in-residence studios, event and gallery space, an outdoor courtyard and 16,000 square feet of commercial space for arts and cultural organizations. Artspace Projects, which is based in Minneapolis, has taken part in more than 50 projects across the country during the past four decades. The nonprofit organization has invested almost $750 million in arts infrastructure.

In a 2022 interview for a story on East Village, Dan Fowler of Cromwell Architects Engineers told me how the firm’s namesake, Ed Cromwell, had a vision for the area near the Robinson Center.

“In about 2015, with the Robinson Center’s $70 million renovation having been approved, we realized that the crowning achievement for that neighborhood was about to happen,” Fowler said. “Mr. Cromwell had invested lots of time and effort to bring that part of the city back to its former glory. We decided that was no longer where we needed to be. It was a chance for our firm to assess what kind of work we wanted to do in Little Rock and where we could best do that work.

“We had been downtown since the firm was founded in 1885. We knew we didn’t want to leave downtown. A downtown presence was important to all of us. We decided there was more opportunity on the far eastern edge of downtown.”

In an interview with the Downtown Little Rock Partnership, Chris Moses of Moses Tucker Partners talked about the growth of East Village.

“It was pretty dormant up until Cromwell and us decided to take on The Paint Factory to move Cromwell’s headquarters over there,” Moses said. “I think that was the key in legitimizing the neighborhood, or part of the key to legitimizing it. Then I pitched Rock Dental Brands on moving its headquarters from west Little Rock. Moving corporations into areas and having mixed use with food, beverage and housing was always kind of the key to it all. … There’s a lot of inventory still in that neighborhood to develop on, and I think it will happen.”