All Aboard Florida’s MiamiCentral station’s construction is ongoing, as the mammoth project speeds toward completion in mid-2017, executives told The Real Deal.
During a recent private tour and meeting with All Aboard, executives unveiled construction details of the MiamiCentral station — which will have an as-yet-unnamed grocery store — and the four towers that will eventually rise above it.
Currently, the station’s foundation is being poured, as 1,600 augercast pilings are being excavated, 100 feet deep, to be filled with concrete and steel, Scott A. Sanders, executive vice president of development and construction for All Aboard Florida, told TRD.
In nine months, the station’s bridges, beams and train structure will be finished, he said. Suffolk Construction is the general contractor.
When completed, the station will include 200,000 square feet of retail below the tracks. Trains will run 50 feet up in the air at MiamiCentral, which will be linked to Metrorail, Metromover and Tri-Rail. Each train will have two locomotives, with seven passengers cars — including a cafe car — that can seat 400 people. The project is the only privately funded infrastructure project of its kind in the nation, the company said.
Last week, Miami commissioners approved a land swap that in part, will allow All Aboard to expand the project.
In addition to the station, All Aboard’s 11-acre, 3 million-square-foot Miami project also includes two residential towers and one office building as well as a parking garage that will have the grocery store and 100,000 square feet of office space.
A fourth tower, deemed a “super tower” will eventually rise 800 feet, with a hotel and residences, Sanders said.
Overall, the $3 billion project will link Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach by rail, with a final stop at the Orlando airport. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP is designing the three stations in association with Zyscovich Architects.
The trains will allow passengers to ride from Miami to Fort Lauderdale in 26 to 28 minutes; from Miami to West Palm Beach in less than an hour; and to Orlando in less than three hours, All Aboard said.