It felt like March Madness when I read three headlines March 19. They were like a bad trifecta that might cost some of us more than if we had a perfect NCAA basketball bracket in a $1,000 pool, but missed one game and lost. The first headline came from our backyard: “Battle might be brewing over who would own a Stuart Brightline station.” “Martin County officials say the county would own the Brightline train station planned for downtown Stuart — if it is built,” wrote TCPalm’s Keith Burbank. “But a dispute could be brewing over the $87 million project: Who would own the station?”
Brightline credit ratings take a hit
“Brightline spokesperson Ashley Blasewitz — looking back to the deal Brightline originally made with Stuart in 2024 for the city to build the station — said Brightline would own the station,” Burbank reported.
But Brightline doesn’t plan to initially invest in a station to be built on land our community owns. In case you missed the news from July, Fitch Ratings downgraded $2.219 billion worth of Brightline tax-free bonds from BB+ to B. As I wrote then, B is defined as a “highly speculative” investment, meaning “default risk is present, but a limited margin of safety remains,” Fitch said. The agency continues to grade $1.119 billion in Brightline notes at CCC+, “very low margin for safety. Default is a real possibility.” That came on the heels of the Palm Beach Post reporting Brightline lost “$549 million in 2024, even as its revenue more than doubled compared with 2023.” Brightline planned to delay making interest payments on the debt. I noted how I wouldn’t invest your money in Brightline, adding how I could not believe Martin County commissioners or anyone else would want to build what at the time would be a $60 million Brightline station. Especially if the rail company won’t make a commensurate investment.
Mid-March shows record ridership
Fitch wasn’t the only entity to question the company’s ability to pay bondholders. S&P Global Ratings said Dec. 19 it lowered its rating on $1.119 billion of Brightline bonds to “CCC” and expected the company to default on the bonds in January 2027. But this month, S&P lowered the boom, downgrading its rating on $3.3 billion worth of Brightline bonds to “CCC-”. “(Brightline) continues to significantly underperform our original expectations,” analyst Trevor D’Olier-Lees wrote, projecting a default three or four months earlier, now in September 2026. D’Olier-Lees wrote $35 million more in expected expenses have put the company in a position to potentially give bondholders less than they expected. Perhaps scarier: “The alarming depletion of the project’s liquidity raises concerns around the quality of information provided,” he said. I understand. Since I began covering this company in March 2012, transparency has never been its strength. I could not reach Brightline officials to answer my financial questions.
To be fair, on March 20, I read some limited good news.
“Brightline Florida had a record number of guests, more than 40,000, travel between Orlando, Miami and across South Florida between March 13 and 15,” the USA TODAY NETWORK — Florida reported, citing, in part, higher gasoline prices and a spring-break sale for children. “CEO Patrick Goddard told USA Today Network he believed ‘airport congestion” is prompting travelers to seek alternative avenues.” In February, Brightline offered three highlights in its January ridership report:
Brightline works on Orlando-Tampa route, too
What interested me is long-distance ridership declined by 2%. Commuter-type travel, however, in South Florida increased by 25%, though short-travel revenues increased by only 5%. Later in its report, Brightline said it would continue to try and seek investors, then borrow more, to raise money to pay off some higher-cost debt and increase cash reserves. “There can be no assurances that we or our indirect parent entities will complete any such transaction on terms that are favorable … ” the report said. Brightline is not just focused on its Miami-Orlando route. It hopes to build an Orlando-Tampa route, possibly in phases, initially linking Orlando International Airport and South International Drive, with stations there and at the Orange County Convention Center. In the February report, Brightline mentioned planned stations in Stuart and Cocoa and government partners seeking federal grants for construction. “We expect that these future in-line stations, as well as potential other locations, will be owned or leased by Brightline upon completion,” the report said. I like rail travel. But why should — if local and federal governments use our money — a private company own something we build? At least Martin County taxpayers have U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fort Pierce, on their side, to some degree:
If Brightline pays nothing toward the station, “I don’t think that they should own the station. I think it’s you the taxpayer … should own that station,” Mast said in a Feb. 6 Facebook video, Burbank reported.
But, do we really have to build some kind of small-town equivalent of a Grand Central or Union Station in downtown Stuart (or Cocoa)? Stuart and Cocoa are in among the reddest of conservative Republican counties. The last time I checked, fiscal restraint was a key pillar of that philosophy.
Is $87 million for train station essential?
And who gets stuck with the station and its upkeep if Brightline eventually stops operating? Martin County? Would taxpayers pay to maintain it or sell it to the highest bidder for pennies on the dollar?
Is this really worth the risk? In other words, what about building ― as in the suburban New York area where I grew up ― a tiny building with platforms for arriving trains? In 2025, Stuart architect Dan Braden estimated a station might cost $10 million. All this leads to the second and third headlines: “Pentagon seeks $200 billion in additional funds for the Iran war,” AP source says.
“US national debt breaches $39 trillion milestone for first time amid spending surge,” from Fox Business. Despite massive personnel and expense cuts made in the wake of U.S. Department of Government Efficiency reviews, the federal government has to keep borrowing or printing money to keep up with its obligations to pay interest on the debt. It can’t reach a balanced budget or even pay Transportation Safety Administration workers in airports. In the big scheme of things, how important are train stations in Stuart and Cocoa? All of our county and U.S. elected officials claim to be fiscally conservative Republicans. Who really is looking out for taxpayers?
This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman. Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/larryreisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman.
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This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Brightline Stuart station issue defines March Madness | Opinion
Reporting by Laurence Reisman, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
