Five private deals to build rail stations in quiet talks
Written by Miami Today on November 12, 2024
Miami-Dade is working with multiple developers to build stations on the Northeast Corridor rail line that just got federal funds to begin its engineering as the first leg of an 85-mile tri-county commuter line.
The county does not plan to build or, apparently, finance the five new stations as part of the $927.3 million project. It is working with developers who want to integrate the stations along the corridor from downtown Miami to Aventura into their own projects and benefit from the passengers, connectivity, and Transit Oriented Development construction benefits.
"We are working obviously with private developers that want to build and we're trying to work with them particularly for the park-and-rides," Gabriella Serrado, interim program manager for the county's transportation system, told the Citizens' Independent Transportation Trust on Oct. 30.
"Our project is not going to build standalone garage facilities like we have seen, like we have right now in Metrorail or in other locations."
"We're working very closely with different developments not just in Wynwood but the Design District, Little Haiti," she said. "At this point every station that we have out there we're in good discussions with private developers about how can we make this work because obviously our ridership numbers are very much dependent on – we have the demand for it, but anything above and beyond is only going to help our system." No developers were named.
The system is to have seven stations. MiamiCentral in downtown at the south end and Aventura West at the north were built with significant government funding.
Other stations are to rise in Wynwood at Northeast 27th Street, the Design District at Northeast 39th Street, Little Haiti at Northeast 61st Street, North Miami at Northeast 125th Street and FIU Biscayne at Northeast 151st Street. All are to have 400-foot-long train platforms that can be extended to 500.
