The Root Cafe, located in downtown Little Rock’s SoMa district, was one of 50 U.S. restaurants to receive a $50,000 grant from the 2024 Backing Historic Small Restaurants grant program.
The program, formed in partnership between the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express, was launched in 2021 to “support historic and culturally significant restaurants during the pandemic.”
Now in its fourth year, Backing Historic Small Restaurants has expanded its reach by doubling the number of recipients from 25 to 50 and increasing the total amount of grant funding from $1 million to $2.5 million. Last year’s program awarded 25 restaurants a total of $1 million, and the lone Arkansas grantee was North Little Rock barbecue restaurant Lindsey’s Hospitality House. Lindsey’s received $40,000 and has since added an outdoor dining area to the west side of the building on the corner of N. Poplar Street and Curtis Sykes Drive.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation selected this year’s grantees from a group of restaurants that operate in historic buildings or neighborhoods and “provide cultural significance to their communities through their history, cuisine, and locations.”
The Root’s owner Jack Sundell said they’ll use the funds to make some exterior beautification upgrades that will “make The Root more attractive from Main Street.”
That includes painting the container doors in pastel rainbow colors and painting the mansard that goes around the top of the building an alternating green and white in a nod to the soft serve ice cream dairy bar Sweden Creme, which operated in the building for decades and had a red and white metal trim.
Sundell said they will also refurbish the lighting on the building’s cornbread mural, which was paid for by SoMa 501 years ago and has been damaged over the years by parking jobs gone wrong.
Sundell said the old thin-glass windows that were original to Sweden Creme will be replaced with one-inch thick insulated glass, which will “make a big impact on our heating and cooling.” Customers can also expect new outdoor patio furniture and umbrellas. Hand-stenciled by co-owner Corri Bristow-Sundell, the old Root Cafe sign at the corner of 15th Street and South Main that still lists the phone number as “501” will be updated as well.
Sundell said work will start in the next one-to-two weeks and he anticipates all the renovations to be completed by the end of the year.
As for The Root’s anticipated second location opening in West Little Rock’s Breckenridge Village shopping center: Sundell says they’re still on track to open in the fourth quarter of this year.