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In December 2014, Florida made headlines across the United States after becoming the third largest state in the country in terms of population. With 19.9 million residents registered during the last census, Florida had just passed New York State and its 19.7 million inhabitants. Florida's sharp increase in population has translated into an unprecedented building boom in Miami, where 7,600 new units have broken ground in the downtown area since 2011. The surge of Floridians living in the State's biggest cities has created a need for more public transit. To meet this demand, the largest privately owned, operated and financed infrastructure project ever built in the United States was put in motion in 2014. Known as All Aboard Florida, it is a 380-kilometre rail network that will soon connect Miami to Orlando, with stops planned in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Scheduled to open in early 2017, it is a symbol of Florida's urban awakening.
To provide All Board Florida with a grand terminus, the city of Miami has approved the construction of a 280,000-square-metre mixed-use complex spanning nine acres across several blocks of NW First Avenue, between NW First and Eighth Streets. Partially designed by Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the project will be completed into two phases. The first phase of MiamiCentral will include two residential towers and an office building standing on top of the train station, itself floating 15 metres above the street. It will be supported by V-shaped columns, part of the exoskeleton wrapping around the podium of the complex. This configuration allows for expansive retail spaces at ground level, but also enables the retention of the streets currently running through the site, thus preserving the connection to the surrounding neighbourhoods.
The two NBWW-designed residential towers will rise 152 metres above ground and add a total of 800 rental units to the growing downtown area. 450 of these apartments will be located in a 39-storey tower, while the remaining 350 will be housed in a 33-storey building. At the northern edge of the site, a 10-storey office tower designed by SOM will bring 18,500 square metres of brand new office space. Although the development will connect to two LRT stations, a parking garage is planned for the space situated between the base of the towers and the train station.
The second and final phase of this project will start in mid-2017, once Phase 1 is complete. Also designed by SOM, it will consist of a 259-metre residential and hotel tower standing on the southern edge of the site. Local authorities expect that 12 million people will use the Miami Station each year, saving up to three million car trips from the region’s roadways within that same period of time. What do you think about Miami's new train station? Let us know by leaving a comment at the bottom of this page, or by visiting the dedicated forum thread.
