OLCDC's Newly Renovated
Historic Opa-locka Train Station 

For years, neglect, abandonment and multiple fires had left the Historic Opa-locka Train Station little more than a rotting shell.

But about a decade ago, the Opa-locka Community Development Corp. bought the station, located at 490 Ali-Baba Ave. They began the painstaking work of restoring it as close as possible to its original appearance, while also bringing it up to modern-day building codes.

On Friday, the CDC unveiled the station with a grand reopening celebration.

"When the CDC bought this building, it had no roof. There were trees growing inside the station terminal. There were pigeons all over," Manuel Martinez, a property developer on the CDC staff, said. "It also had no windows or doors; the jambs were completely open, not even boarded up."

The renovation bolstered the interior walls with steel beams and replaced missing window panes and wooden doors. The roof received two fiberglass domes that fit with the city's distinctive Moorish architecture motif, and developers added a set of wooden ramps to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

One thing the station did not add: ramps to allow passengers to board trains. In its reincarnated state, the station will be used by the CDC as a combination museum, office and technology center.

Tri-Rail spokeswoman Bonnie Arnold said Friday that consumer demand led that agency to build its own train station next door to the historic location in 1989, and the agency completed upgrading that station last October.

The Tri-Rail station handles up to 28 commuter trains per day, while Amtrak passenger trains and CSX freight trains also use the tracks without stopping in Opa-locka, Arnold said.

The historic station's former condition marked a sad decline from its glory days. Completed in 1927 by the Harvey & Clarke architecture firm of West Palm Beach, which had been hired by city creator Glenn Curtiss, the station made the then-new city of Opa-locka into a commuter suburb for Miami with morning and evening trains to and from downtown. The station handled both passenger and freight trains for decades.

With increasing reliance on cars since the 1950s, however, the historic train station lost customers and eventually was shuttered.

Martinez said when the CDC bought the station from the Dade Heritage Trust for $10 in 1994, it was little more than a magnet for homeless people.

CDC Executive Director Willie Logan added that the station also suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Andrew in 1992, as well as two fires --one in 1991 before restoration efforts began.  The CDC spent roughly $1.1 million on the renovation, primarily through county and state grants.

Patricia Obringer, a muralist who moved to South Florida from New York in 1996, noticed the station as a work-in-progress about five years ago. Right away she began adding her own contribution to the restoration effort: replacing damaged tiles with replicas that reproduced the floral, geometric and mystical patterns of the originals.

"They had no one working on the tiles, so I wrote up a proposal to do that and submitted it," she said.

The station sports 24 distinctive tile patterns. Obringer considers the restoration one of her finest works.

"This is my contribution to history," she said.  "And I think the tiles look wonderful."

There will be refreshments and entertainment at the free event.

"This property had had two fires and had been abandoned for many years," Manuel Martinez, CDC director of real estate development, said Friday. "We had no windows and no floors, so we started from scratch with nothing but the outer shell. We've added all-new plumbing, all-new electricals, doors, floors and tile work." 

Tri-Rail spokeswoman Bonnie Arnold, whose agency will host the reception, applauded the makeover.  "They've done just a gorgeous job of restoring it, with wonderful woodwork and tiles," Arnold said Friday. "The historic station has long been an eyesore, but now it's going to be a real asset to the community." (Emphasis added.)

For more information, call 305-687-3545.