All Aboard Florida (AAF), a privately financed passenger rail service, is progressing forward with their plans for a new downtown train station complex, which some say will boost Miami’s reputation for a world-class urban center.
AAF officials have chosen the name MiamiCentral for the complex, which will soon regenerate the downtown area into an urban center with social scenes, farmer’s markets, retail outlets, restaurants, office spaces, and a few residential towers with around 800 affordable rooms for people who work in the neighborhood.
MiamiCentral is planned for the vacant plot where Henry Flagler, the father of Miami, built his train depot all those years ago.
The initial plans for the station have been approved, and more detailed plans are under review by officials for Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami.
The four blocks and the parking spaces that the complex will be built on have already been removed, closed off by construction fences. Suffolk Construction is contractor group who will build the complex.
AAF has hired Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the designers of the upcoming One World Trade Center tower, along with Zyscovich Architects of Miami to handle the architectural design.
AAF executives plan to begin construction near the end of the year, which the county believes will be doable.
Source: miamiherald.com
Photo credit: Downtown Miami Station - miamiherald.com, allaboardflorida.com, Train - sypte.co.uk