Blue Sail Coffee Roasters of Conway has signed a three-year lease to operate a coffee shop inside Phase 1 of the Little Rock Technology Park at 417 Main St.
Blue Sail, which has two locations in Conway, will occupy 1,222-SF on the ground floor of the park. The downtown site will be overseen by Andy Pickle, a new partner in Blue Sail, founded in 2014 by Kyle Tabor.
The shop will offer lattes, cold brew and pour overs, as well as brunch items like quiche, croissant sandwiches and baked goods. It plans to be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and keep Saturday hours too.
"Little Rock has been yearning for a real coffee company that serves well-prepared espresso and slow brews," Tabor said in a news release. "Blue Sail will be staffing some of our best and most experienced baristas from day one and I cannot wait to pioneer the coffee culture in Little Rock."
Brent Birch, executive director of the park, said the shop aims to open along with the park on March 1. While Blue Sail is important to entrepreneurial scene the park aims to develop, Birch said the general public is welcome too.
"The coffee shop is key element to the highly-caffeinated startup scene providing tenants and their guests an opportunity to collaborate and communicate outside of traditional meeting space," Birch said. "Blue Sail is a perfect fit for the space given Kyle and Andy's entrepreneurial background and spirit."
The 38,000-SF tech park is billed as a "premier multi-use environment for entrepreneurs and businesses." Phase 1 of the project, which began construction in April, is renovating two 100-year-old buildings into office, conference and meeting space for technology-focused companies.
The park includes conference rooms, co-working desks, one- and two-person office suites, lounge areas, kitchen space and other amenities. Plans for Phase 2 include wet and dry laboratories.
Eleven tenants have been announced for the park so far, including the Venture Center, LumoXchange, PFITR and Sparkible. Together, the companies will bring 50 employees to the Main Street site.