Courtesy: BRIGHTLINE
Brightline has started construction on a 455-space parking garage that will be used by the Boca Raton library and a future train station.
The station complex, including the garage, is projected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2022, according to a press statement from the private train service based in Miami's Overtown. It will be constructed on 1.8 acres of land owned by the city of Boca Raton beside the downtown library at 1501 Spanish River Blvd. The city will reportedly pay the $12.1 million cost of constructing the parking garage.
Brightline currently runs between three stations located in the downtown areas of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach. Major developments have since popped up around each stop.
SoftBank-owned Florida East Coast Industries, which oversees the Brightline service, developed the 3 million-square-foot residential, retail, and office complex called MiamiCentral Station at 600 N.W. 1st Ave. in Miami. For the West Palm Beach station at 501 Evernia St., FECI constructed a 290-unit apartment complex called Park Line. Near the Fort Lauderdale station at 101 N.W. 2nd Ave., FECI recently sold two sites it owned for $37.2 million.
Brightline intends to construct more stations along a 325-mile train track corridor from Miami to Orlando to Tampa. A train station west of Aventura Mall in the Ojus neighborhood is expected to be completed by the end of 2022, Vanessa Alfonso, Brightline's director of media relations, said in an email to the Business Journal. Train service to Orlando is set to begin in early 2023. Also: Brightline signed a lease with Walt Disney World to build a station at its Disney Springs attraction, Alfonso added.
After being shut down since March 2020 due to the spread of Covid-19, Brightline restarted service Nov. 8. In that month alone, Brightline carried 61,045 passengers, according to a recent financial report from the train company. At the time, tickets were $9.55. Now, Brightline charges $17 for short segment trips, Alfonso stated. The company currently employs 1,500 people, including around 1,300 construction workers. Once the Boca Raton station is finished, the company expects to have more than 2,000 teammates, Alfonso stated.
By Erik Bojnansky Reporter, South Florida Business Journal
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