Parallel Infrastructure

Parallel Infrastructure is a national right-of-way (ROW) real estate and infrastructure management and development company based in Jacksonville, Florida. Its history dates back to Florida East Coast Railway founder Henry M. Flagler, who built a network of rail lines and supporting infrastructure up and down the state’s eastern coastline.

Parallel Infrastructure markets itself as helping public and private ROW landowners develop underutilized real estate assets through the construction and operation of telecommunications towers and fiber optic networks, energy infrastructure, and outdoor billboards.

It has development or management rights with dozens of rail lines across the country covering more than 2,000 miles of ROW.

The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries, along with All Aboard Florida, Flagler Global Logistics, and Flagler.

History

Parallel Infrastructure’s history dates back more than 100 years. As Henry Flagler bought land and expanded his railroad empire from Jacksonville down to Key West, he also invested in new roads, stations, and other infrastructure to support his venture.^[1] His investments allowed for the founding and settlement of several new communities along the eastern coastline, including West Palm Beach in 1894. Miami, then known as Biscayne Bay, was a small settlement of around 400 prior to the arrival of Flagler’s rail line.^[2] Thirty years later, Miami’s population had grown to more than 100,000.

Despite changes in ownership and a lingering bankruptcy process that began in 1931 and lasted 30 years, Florida East Coast Railway remained a significant property owner and developer. In 1983, then-owner St. Joe Company split off Florida East Coast Railway’s real estate arm – then called Flagler Development—and placed the two companies under the control of a new holding company, FOXX Holdings. The company’s name was changed in April 2006 to Florida East Coast Industries. In 2007, Fortress Investment Group announced it was purchasing Florida East Coast Industries for $3.5 billion. The next year, Fortress fully split off Florida East Coast Railway from FECI, turning them into two separate, distinct companies.

In 2012, as part of a strategic realignment, FECI took its internal department focusing on right-of-way asset development and incorporated it as Parallel Infrastructure.^[3]

In 2013, the company built and launched a new fiber optic network along the Florida East Coast Railway ROW between Miami and Jacksonville. This fiber optic network was made available to telephone and wireless companies, utility companies, cable companies, data centers, municipalities, and other healthcare and educational businesses that transmit large amounts of data.^[4]

Services

Parallel Infrastructure helps public and private landowners develop telecommunication towers, fiber optic networks, fuel depots, and outdoor billboards. They have a particular focus on land located next to right of ways and also offer real estate management services.

As of April 2014, the company had asset development agreements with 31 freight railroads and more than 2,000 miles of right of way across the country, in addition to managing more than 5,000 lease agreements involving hundreds of separate land parcels ranging in size from 1 acre to more than 300 acres.^[5]

References