All Aboard Florida reveals design for West Palm Beach station

All Aboard Florida and local officials on Monday unveiled designs for a proposed rail station in downtown West Palm Beach.

The station is being planned and designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill L.L.P. in association with Zyscovich Architects. The station marks another "significant milestone" in All Aboard Florida's progress in bringing express passenger rail back to Florida, railroad officials said in a press release.

The nearly 60,000-square-foot station and platform in downtown West Palm Beach will be located between Datura and Evernia Streets, with CityPlace and the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts Center to the south, and the government center district and Clematis Street to the north.

The station will act as a new "gateway" into the city and Palm Beach County, and strengthen links to the existing Tri-Rail and Amtrak stations, All Aboard Florida officials said. It also will connect with the neighborhood’s vehicular trolley and pedestrian networks, creating a new transportation hub for the West Palm Beach area.

"We have been working closely with the city staff to develop a station and overall master plan that makes the downtown area even more dynamic. We fully expect this underdeveloped part of the city to see a dramatic change with new development that will be spurred by the transit activity we are leading," said All Aboard Florida President and Chief Development Officer P. Michael Reininger.

The company is developing an intercity passenger-rail project that would connect Miami to Orlando, with intermediate stations in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.