Nov. 5 headlines: 8 before and after photos of the renovated Bojangles’ Coliseum

Bojangles’ Coliseum is getting a complete makeover, and on Wednesday community leaders and city officials got a look at the first phase of the venue’s ongoing $16 million renovation.

Before this year, not much — other than the name — had changed since the place was built in 1955.

But now The Biscuit (get it? Because it’s Bojangles’) has new seating (props to you if you bought some of the old seats), a new scoreboard and ribbon board, and a new sound system.

The coliseum’s first public event since the renovation will be Saturday’s Charlotte Checkers game against the Manitoba Moose.

Here are some pictures from right before The Biscuit (we’re definitely going to make this a thing) was renovated:

And here’s what it looks like now:

In other headlines …

– Red Ventures officially broke ground on a project that will double the size of its headquarters. The 300,000-square-foot expansion will include a ballroom, an auditorium, an amphitheater and a 90,000 square-foot sales center.

– The College Football Playoff championship game will not be played in Charlotte in 2019 or 2020. Apparently the site selection committee liked the city and the stadium, but worried about bad weather in January.

– Back in March, Jennifer Roberts was considered a long shot to become the next mayor of Charlotte. On Tuesday, she won. The Observer takes a look at how she did it.

In Huntersville, the mayor and two town commissioners were voted out of office because of anger about the I-77 toll lanes.

– Belk shareholders approved the sale of the company Sycamore Partners, one of the last steps needed to end family control of the department store chain. The sale is expected to be completed late this month or early December, and we imagine Jen will still be sad about it being sold.

– Someone bought a $613,000 watch at Windsor Jewelers in Phillips Place. #squadgoals

Photos: Charlotte Observer file; Retro Charlotte; T. Ortega Gaines/Charlotte Observer

This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 8:58 PM with the headline "Nov. 5 headlines: 8 before and after photos of the renovated Bojangles’ Coliseum."