CHARLOTTE -- Business owners along the newest portion of the LYNX light rail are anxious for Friday’s grand opening.

At around 10 a.m., trains will begin running between UNC Charlotte and Uptown.

"We are a coffee house and pub," said Mike Dawson, co-owner of Crown Station. It originally opened in 2011 in the Elizabeth neighborhood along the CityLYNX Gold Line.

"It never was enough foot traffic over in that area," Dawson explains.

Ultimately, he says, CPCC bought the property. That’s when Dawson says he and his business partner decided to move their business to NoDa. "We've seen the development up and down South Boulevard,” Dawson adds.

But come Friday, the northeast corridor will steal the show.

There are pedestrian bridges at several of the stations. So people won't have to go down to street level and cross at the street.

Thursday, we met Ben Watt of Crescent Communities. He highlighted the massive mural that’s plastered to the track-side of NoDa’s Novel apartment complex.

"It's 300 feet long," Watt said. "Partly to pay an homage to the neighborhood and it's beginnings."

Like the artwork adorning the Tom Hunter Rd. Station, where students from Martin Luther King Jr. Middle and Hidden Valley Elementary helped local artist Tom Stanley with the designs, the parking deck was a community effort.

"It was a singular artist concept but about a dozen artists touched it," Watt added.

CATS officials say they will have "ambassadors" on the track platform Friday helping to direct riders and also answer questions. The public will be able to board the first ride around 10 Friday morning.

 

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