

All Aboard Florida had a press conference this morning at the future site of their Downtown Miami train station revealing the design by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Zyscovich Architects. Read on for highlights from the show:

1) As we already knew, the tracks will be elevated 50 feet above the street, entering the station along a viaduct. Cross streets will remain open, with retail below the soaring tracks.

2) The project encompasses two main sites: the 9 acre transportation hub and the 2 acre Overtown development.

3) There will be "Significant transit oriented developments around our three [South Florida] station sites", meaning Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach are getting more than just stations too.

4) The two Miami sites will encompass nearly three million square feet of residential, commercial, office, retail, parking. Most or all of the parking will be at the Overtown site, but the two will be linked together.

5) The plan is devised as two intersecting axis - north/south along Government Center, and east/west from Overtown east. Two main public spaces will be created, one at the south end of the project, and the other to the north and east, sort of in front of the Arquitectonica-designed Courthouse.

6) A concourse level between the station and the ground will connect everything together.

7) The station is a "great land bridge" connecting the core of downtown with Overtown and the "waterfront district", by which they probably mean Miami Worldcenter.

8) The V-shaped columns of the structure are signature elements of the design. The Vs are angled a little bit to the south to capture the light. They will "shimmer".

9) The renderings show three towers (two taller and one shorter) above the station itself, with a very basic shape of at least one even larger tower to the south. The Overtown site is not included in the renderings at all.

10) They may break ground this year. Finally!

· All Aboard Florida coverage [Curbed Miami]