All Aboard Florida begins demolition for WPB station

It's demolition day Wednesday for All Aboard Florida as crews clear the way for construction of its West Palm Beach station.

Both the Sewell Hardware building and the Sasser Glass building will be razed for the station between Evernia and Datura streets, next to the Florida East Coast Railway tracks.

The work follows the knockdown of a strip center on the site of the future passenger rail line's Fort Lauderdale station two weeks ago.

It's full steam ahead for the project's first segment, which includes a station in downtown Miami. All three stations are expected to be completed a few months before passenger trains begin running between Miami and West Palm Beach by the end of 2016.

The next leg to Orlando is set to open in 2017.

The West Palm Beach station will be 60,000 square feet, with 30,000 square feet of air-conditioned space, about the same size as Fort Lauderdale's station.

The station and surrounding development are expected to help revitalize a ragged stretch of downtown between Clematis Street and City Place, an area officials often refer to as the "donut hole."

The design will complement stations in Fort Lauderdale and Miami, with lots of glass and elevated lounge above the tracks and signature V-shaped trusses.

All Aboard Florida will run 16 trains each way, each day, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m..The trains will use the existing FEC tracks from Miami to Cocoa and new tracks from Cocoa to Orlando along the Beach Line Expressway.

mturnbell@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4155, Twitter @MikeTurnpike, Facebook at SunSentinel.com/concreteideas

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All Aboard Florida begins demolition for WPB station