After years of development, Brightline’s passenger trains are finally pulling into Orlando, connecting the central Florida city with the state's southern end via rail. The service is also catalyzing development around the private startup's six railway stations in a way that could reshape how Floridians move, live and work.

While Brightline's $2.7 billion Orlando connection links the state's top two tourist hubs at speeds up to 125 miles per hour, officials and developers are betting the nation’s first inter-city passenger rail service in 100 years eventually changes how residents and employees — not just tourists — get around.

As Florida’s population keeps growing and its roads become more congested, high-tech passenger rail services have the potential to get cars off roads, reduce travel times and air pollution and give travelers a choice of convenience. Changes in commuting will determine where developers decide to build homes, offices, stores and factories. The outcome could signal what's to come from similar projects around the country.

Brightline estimates its system will have a $6.4 billion economic impact on Florida's economy through the end of the decade and remove more than 3 million cars from roadways each year.

"There are tons of people coming from everywhere in the world to Florida, and they love South Florida, so the growth between Miami north toward Palm Beach and now Orlando, it’s just the beginning," J.F. Roy, founder and CEO of Fort Lauderdale-based OceanLand Investments, told CoStar News. The firm has bought land near Brightline's Fort Lauderdale station for a proposed project.

Fortress Investment Group, the owner of Brightline and Florida East Coast Industries, has spent $5 billion in private funds on the six Florida train stations that can now take riders 235 miles in three hours with the debut of the Orlando service last month. All the stations are located near downtown economic centers and are designed to connect and work with local and public transportation networks.

While Brightline aims to offer modern and eco-friendly travel options, its system faces challenges. They include safety concerns with fatalities that have occurred at track crossings, and its developers have taken on billions of dollars in debt to help fund the project, with some of that due over the next five years.

Brightline's biodiesel-electric trains travel at speeds second only to the government-owned Amtrak Northeast Corridor, though they fall short of high-speed rail's generally accepted definition of a minimum speed of 124 miles per hour along a dedicated route. That's because some of Brightline's routes go through the state's most densely populated areas, restricting trains to speeds of 70 to 79 miles per hour.

Even so, Brightline's system has become increasingly popular since it launched in 2018, with its initial South Florida route beating company projections at the beginning of 2023 and generating an operating profit for the first time in March.

“We never really intended to make money on that segment on a standalone basis,” said Wes Edens, co-founder of Fortress Investment Group, in an interview with CNBC in April.

On the U.S. West Coast, Brightline's developers are planning to build what the company calls the "nation’s first true high-speed rail network with fully electric trains" that travel at up to 200 miles per hour. The line that connects Los Angeles and Las Vegas is expected to break ground by the end of the year. Various entrepreneurs — including billionaires Richard Branson and Elon Musk — have proposed their own versions of high-tech passenger rail services in other U.S. cities over the past few years.

Brightline launched operations in South Florida in 2018, connecting Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Stations in Boca Raton and Aventura opened at the end of last year, while the Orlando extension debuted last month. A proposed extension from Orlando to Tampa is in the preliminary stages.

For residents living in South Florida, Brightline presents an opportunity to live in the region's urban cores, as well as more suburban locations like Boca Raton and Aventura and not have to own a car. While one-way tickets begin at $79 depending on the route, Brightline offers monthly passes starting at $127 with options for commuters. Those who subscribe to Brightline's premium service, Brightline+, are also provided private car rides anywhere within a five-mile radius of stations, essentially eliminating the need for a personal vehicle.

Someone who lives in West Palm Beach but works in Fort Lauderdale at The Main Las Olas, with tenants including JPMorgan Chase, Akerman and RSM, can get to the office via Brightline in about an hour without having to brave Interstate 95, with sections that are considered among the most dangerous stretches of highways in the country. And with free Wi-Fi throughout the stations and trains and chargers and outlets at every seat, employees can get started on their work day while en route to the office.

Brightline can cut down on parking costs, which can vary widely throughout South Florida. Parking at the popular mixed-use shopping complex Brickell City Centre in Miami, for example, starts at $6 for the first 30 minutes and can total $45 for the day, while those who valet can expect to spend $20 for the first hour and $50 for the day.

Brightline's system could be part of a wider shift to urban cores that is underway, said Roy, the CEO of OceanLand Investments.

"The time where people were looking for a big suburban house with a two-car garage? That’s a thing of the past," Roy said.

Downtown West Palm Beach has seen increased densification as the area has become known as the "Wall Street of the South” after a variety of financial firms moved to the city during the pandemic. Projects developed over the past few years near Brightline's West Palm Beach station include Related Cos.' 300,000-square-foot office building completed in 2021 at 360 Rosemary Ave. that is home to financial tenants such as hedge fund Elliott Management and investment bank Goldman Sachs.

"We’re never going to be like New York, we’re a little more spread out," said Jon Paul Perez, president of Miami-based Related Group, in an interview with CoStar News. "But we’re turning into a more serious city where corporations are moving down here, which I think is the biggest change from before where it was just an investor market."

Perez’s Related Group has a history of developing near Miami’s urban core. Projects in the area include 50 Biscayne, complete in 2007 and located near the city’s elevated people-mover system. More recently, the firm announced Casa Bella Residences by B&B Italia. Located at 1400 Biscayne Blvd., the residences scored a record $12.6 million penthouse contract earlier in June, with groundbreaking set to begin later this year. Similar to 50 Biscayne, Casa Bella is a block away from the Adrienne Arsht Metromover station, and both projects easily connect to Brightline’s MiamiCentral via the people-mover system.

"By developing in the urban core, that allows people to not have a car and reduce their expenses. They can walk, Uber, or use a scooter," said Perez.

Construction on the 170-mile extension from West Palm Beach to Orlando began in 2019, and the Orlando train station was completed in April. The 3-story train station at Orlando International Airport includes a 72,000-square-foot platform area, making it Brightline's largest train station.

The expansion to Orlando also included the development of a $100 million train maintenance facility on 62 acres south of the airport. The maintenance facility includes an 80,000-gallon biodiesel fuel farm that can service 16 trains daily.

While still in the early stages, Brightline's eventual objective is to connect the Orlando station to Tampa. Preliminary discussions between Brightline and SunRail, the commuter rail service in Orlando, include developing a shared east-west corridor.

The increased development surrounding Brightline's system has spurred action from other commuter rail players across the state. South Florida's Tri-Rail, which runs on a separate commuter rail corridor west of Interstate 95, has begun investigating how it can better leverage its property and stations for increased transit-oriented development.

Brightline's popularity and potential has commercial real estate developers and investors eager for a piece of the pie.

"When Brightline opened their doors, we were very curious about it," said Roy, the leader of OceanLand Investments, which bought a 0.95-acre site earlier this year in downtown Fort Lauderdale next to the Brightline station for $13.2 million. OceanLand is planning to build Brightline Residences, a mixed-use project at the site.

"We were looking for a long time for a proper site for our Fort Lauderdale project, and when this site became available, we just jumped on it," Roy told CoStar News.

Roy said his company wants to buy more land around Brightline stations, but there's lots of competition to do so.

"We’re trying anything around it that becomes available," Roy said. "We’re definitely looking to buy more sites — we’re a big believer, and it can’t be replaced. For us, it’s a prime location."

Brightline's flagship MiamiCentral station opened in 2018, and an 813-unit luxury apartment complex called ParkLine Miami opened in 2020 in two towers on top of the train station. Harbor Group International bought the apartment towers for $450 million last year.

Richard Litton, president of Harbor Group International, noted in a statement at the time of the sale that the complex was a unique opportunity linked directly to “all major regional and local transportation modes,” adding that demand for “transit-oriented developments will continue to soar as Miami marks itself as one of the most prominent international cities."

This story was corrected on Oct. 6 to include projects that Related Group has built near the Brightline route in Miami and not those of a different developer.