LIBERTY, N.C. — People in the Liberty community are looking forward to a business boom as construction on a battery plant continues at the Greensboro-Randolph County megasite.

Susan Aydelette says traffic at her restaurant, Hurricane Jane's, has picked up some since construction started at the new Toyota battery plant.

“I’m looking forward to it expanding and new things coming. I think that the battery plant will be a blessing and that hopefully it'll bring new things to Liberty,” Aydelette said.

She calls this an exciting time, even though some people in the community were against it.

“A lot of people don't like change, but I was welcoming change, because I'm hoping that, you know, it'll build Liberty up. A lot of people think that Liberty was a dying town, and that's not what I want. I want it to expand, and I want to people to be happy. So, I think that this is going to be a blessing to everyone. They just don't know it yet,” Aydelette said.

Toyota said it’s putting another $2.1 billion into the North Carolina battery manufacturing plant for the new infrastructure to support future expansion, which brings the total number of jobs to 2,100 and the investment to nearly $6 billion.

Aydelette and other business owners like Tom Royal, who owns a barber shop in town, hope many of those jobs go to locals.

“The biggest Toyota's going to be, I just hope, they hire more local than hire outside of the area and bring companies in to cater to Toyota so they can get more jobs locally, be able to train more people here to get the jobs they need down here in Randolph County,” Royal said.

He says it's a struggle for businesses and for people to find jobs here, but he says the megasite is bringing new hope.

“You know, I hope a lot of people, a lot of young people, will be able to get jobs, because the money they're putting in, especially from RTC, GTC, A&T and the universities and the colleges for them to train, I think that's a great idea. What Toyota has put in to try to help the community for that? So, hopefully a lot of young people will get involved to jump in, and they'll have a good career,” Royal said.

The company plans to start hiring production maintenance positions soon.

The facility will be Toyota’s hub for developing and producing lithium-ion batteries for its electric vehicles portfolio. Production at the Liberty plant is slated to begin in 2025.