All Aboard Florida taps local builder for Fort Lauderdale event space

All Aboard Florida — the proposed Miami to Orlando railway service — said it has hired a construction company to relocate an event center in Fort Lauderdale.

D. Stephenson Construction, which is based in Fort Lauderdale, will build the Argentelle Catering & Special Events’ new facility near the city’s upcoming All Aboard Florida station.

Construction is expected to begin by the end of March. The project is predicted to create 50 jobs in addition to the 800 already expected from construction of station and rail line in Broward County, All Aboard said in a news release.

The event center is being moved to make way for development opportunities in the area, the release stated.

“We are excited to have been selected to build this facility, and hope to use this as an opportunity to do even more work with All Aboard Florida in the future,” said Dwight Stephenson, chief executive officer of D. Stephenson Construction, in a statement. “I’m glad to see that All Aboard Florida recognizes the contributions that local minority-owned firms like ours can make to the success of a major undertaking such as this.”

The Miami-to-West Palm Beach stretch of the railway is expected to open in 2016, and the Orlando section in 2017.

In Miami-Dade County, commuter service Tri-Rail is seekings funds for a station in downtown Miami that would piggyback on All Aboard Florida’s platforms.

Tri-Rail officials need $69 million to get the station built — but have only eight weeks to get it. Once construction starts on All Aboard Florida’s part of the station, the opportunity for a joined platform is lost. — Sean Stewart-Muniz