"It's like four minutes to get to Club West instead of maybe 10 minutes," South End resident Glenn Eastwood told Queen City News the night the new pedestrian crossing behind the South Boulevard Publix opened. He said he had waited about two years for it.
That six-minute difference matters more than it sounds. The crossing opened Monday, August 31, 2026. It turned two commercial strips that used to face each other across a fenced rail line into one walkable block. It is also the first finished piece of a light rail station that CATS doesn't expect to open until 2028. The block behind Publix already works like a station area. The trains come later.
Two Strips That Used to Face Each Other Across a Fence
Before August 31, getting from the Publix side of the Blue Line to the Hawkins Street side meant a detour. Queen City News described it as walking about five minutes toward Uptown or Lower South End just to reach the other side of the Rail Trail. Some people didn't bother. "I've seen plenty of people jump the railing to go over from one side to the other," resident Rya Hollaran told the station.
CATS's own project map shows what the crossing connects. Pedestrian improvements run alongside Publix out to South Boulevard on the east side. On the west side, they run between Cortland South End and 2173 Hawkins Street out to Hawkins. The crossing itself sits just south of the existing CATS traction power substation. It has signs that tell walkers and cyclists to look both ways before stepping onto the tracks.
The addresses make the change easy to see. Publix at Shops at Southline is at 2222 South Blvd. Cortland South End is at 2225 Hawkins St. Their street numbers are almost the same, but until this summer they were effectively on different blocks.
The Block, Measured in Feet
With the crossing open, a short loop now takes in a grocery store, a brewery, two coffee counters, a raw bar and a gym. Here's what sits on each side.
| South Boulevard side | Address | Hawkins Street side | Address |
|---|---|---|---|
| Publix at Shops at Southline | 2222 South Blvd | Club West Brewing | 2151 Hawkins St |
| Yunta Cevicheria & Pisco Barra | 2201 South Blvd, Suite 130 | Half Shell | 2161 Hawkins St |
| Poppy's Bagels | 2201 South Blvd | Night Swim Coffee, lobby café | 2161 Hawkins St |
| The Wine Loft | 2201 South Blvd | Velvet Taco | 2170 Hawkins St |
| Barry's | 2140 South Blvd, Suite 2 | Cortland South End | 2225 Hawkins St |
| Trolley Barn Fermentory & Food Hall | 2104 South Blvd | ||
| Not Just Coffee, Atherton Mill | 2000 South Blvd |
The South End district directory measures some of these distances from Publix. It puts the 2201 South Blvd group of Yunta, Poppy's Bagels and The Wine Loft roughly 419 to 467 feet away. It lists Spoons, the acai-bowl shop at 2520 South Blvd, Suite 101, about 386 feet from Publix. ROOTS Cafe sits around the corner at 2135 Southend Drive.
The Hawkins side is tighter still. Club West Brewing, Half Shell, Night Swim Coffee and Velvet Taco all fall between 2151 and 2170 Hawkins Street. Club West describes its taproom as sitting directly along the Rail Trail. Residents quoted on opening night pointed to both kinds of trips. Jason Newton mentioned getting to the grocery store, and Eastwood mentioned reaching the bars and restaurants on the far side.
Why CATS Named the Station Here
In late September, CATS held a ceremony at this crossing to announce the name of the Blue Line's newest stop, Atherton Mill Station. The release describes the crossing as "located behind Publix on South Boulevard where the new station will be." The station is still under construction and expected to open in 2028.
The crossing was built first because people asked for it. CATS says comments from its public meetings and surveys stressed opening the Publix-to-Cortland crossing "as early as possible." So the walking link opened about two years before the station it belongs to. Its context also explains the new name. The station serves the stretch between Remount Road and Tremont Drive, which CATS says has "grown dramatically" since the Blue Line opened in 2007. The Atherton Mill name ties it to the mill complex a short walk north, where the South End Farmers Market runs.
The Platforms Will Sit on the Route You Already Walk
The station design makes this block more important. CATS's map shows staggered platforms. The northbound platform runs alongside Publix. The southbound platform sits further north, alongside 2173 Hawkins and 2161 Hawkins, across from Atherton Lofts. The crossing sits between them.
In practice, the northbound platform will sit next to the grocery store, and the southbound platform will sit outside the Half Shell and Night Swim Coffee building. The path between them is the one people have been using since August 31. Eastwood's comment pointed the same way. He said a stop here would make him "probably more likely to use the train" for trips to Uptown or NoDa.
The project also fixes a gap a few blocks south. Next to the Junction 1504 Apartments, CATS is adding a track crossover and filling a gap in the Rail Trail on the east side of the tracks, where a signal house will also go. Another new Rail Trail section is planned behind Autobell and Cannon Pharmacy.
Construction Isn't Done With This Block
The crossing being open doesn't mean the work around it is finished. Contractor Stacy Witbeck is building the track and systems package, which covers the crossing, the crossover, signal and electrical changes, and the station foundations. CATS puts most of that work between spring 2026 and spring 2027. The schedule is built around three twice-yearly rail shutdowns. The first ran April 25 to 27, with buses replacing trains.
In an April 21, 2026 update, CATS said no more construction-related service changes were planned until "this fall." As of early October, the CATS materials we reviewed don't give a date for the next shutdown or for any new Rail Trail detour in South End. The South End Station project page is where that notice will appear. The page still says the crossing would open in "late July," so check its date stamps against recent news.
Earlier detours give a sense of what to expect. During the spring closures, walkers and cyclists were sent along Hawkins and Dunavant streets on the west side and South Boulevard on the east, between Tremont and Remount. CATS's recent work list for this site included the signal house foundation, the foundation for the station communication cabinet, and the start of platform foundations. Expect fencing and equipment along the edges of the crossing for a while.
Saturdays and the Fall Calendar Around the Crossing
The crossing also makes it easier to combine the Hawkins side with Atherton Mill's regular weekend draw. The South End Farmers Market runs every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., rain or shine, year-round. It sits outdoors at Atherton Mill across from the Rail Trail, with access from Tremont Avenue or from behind Vin Master. On a market morning, you can pick up coffee at Night Swim on Hawkins and cross behind Publix without the old walk around.
Upcoming dates in and near the station area:
- Saturday, October 10, 4 to 6 p.m. Pritchard at South End, 1117 South Blvd, is holding a free family fall festival with games, face painting, bounce houses and trunk-or-treat.
- Saturday, October 10, 2 to 10 p.m. The free outdoor festival from Confluence takes over Suffolk Punch South End at 2911 Griffith St.
- Friday, November 6. South End's free First Friday Gallery Crawl has its next listed date.
- Saturday, November 28. South End Shop Small Saturday lists Atherton, the Design Center and Camden Road as participating shopping areas, with more details still to come.
Of those, Shop Small Saturday is the one that lands right next to the crossing. Atherton is a short walk north of Publix, and with the crossing open, Cortland South End and the Hawkins Street buildings are now on the same walking route.
We pay attention to small infrastructure like this crossing because it changes how a block actually gets used, often well before the bigger project is finished. If you're wondering how the Atherton Mill Station work will affect the stretch of South End you know best, Real Estate Layne is glad to go through the CATS map with you street by street. Let's Connect.
