The Boca Raton City Council has decided to hold a public referendum before moving forward with a proposed 99-year lease that would allow developers Terra and Frisbie Group to build on 30 acres of city-owned land at West Palmetto Park Road and Northwest Second Avenue. The decision follows calls from residents for a special election regarding the project.
At a meeting Tuesday evening, council members directed the city attorney to include a referendum requirement in any future lease agreement. This action came after dozens of residents voiced their concerns about the latest plans by Terra, based in Miami, and Palm Beach-based Frisbie Group.
Under the revised proposal, the development would include 580 apartments, 160 condominiums, 80,000 square feet of retail space, and 250,000 square feet of offices. The plan also features public amenities such as a redesigned Memorial Park, a new city hall and community center, as well as other improvements.
Rob Frisbie Jr., managing partner at Frisbie Group, and David Martin, CEO of Terra, said the updated design is less dense than their previous plan. The earlier version had called for 912 residential units, 150 hotel rooms, 350,000 square feet of offices and 152,000 square feet of retail space.
Frisbie told council members that adjustments were made after hearing opposition from residents at an earlier meeting. He noted that more green space was added to address concerns about density. “We need to get the community behind this project,” Frisbie told council members. “This is a [really] exciting plan and they should get to vote on it.” He also expressed support for holding public workshops scheduled for September 29 at the downtown library and October 6 at Spanish River Library. Additionally, he said his team is willing to meet with local homeowners’ associations and will not push for approval by late October as originally planned.
In addition to scaling back residential units and removing plans for a hotel component—both steps aimed at addressing resident concerns—the new proposal includes construction of up to ten clay tennis courts in a new tennis center; preservation of banyan trees within an expanded playground; creation of both a World War II memorial and children’s museum.
The scaled-down project will result in lower revenue projections for Boca Raton over time compared with previous iterations: while initial estimates put payments at $3 billion over the course of ninety-nine years under earlier plans; now projected payouts stand closer to $2.1 billion under current designs. Despite these changes—and confirmation from developers that they remain committed to providing $10 million toward construction of pedestrian bridge near Brightline’s Boca Raton station between government campus area/Mizner Park—opposition continues among critics who recently gathered seven thousand signatures calling for ordinance or charter amendment requiring voter approval prior sale/lease any parcel exceeding half-acre public property.
“Right now, the land is public. They want to get it into their possession. And once they get it, they will have full control over it for the next 99 years,” Jon Pearlman (founder Save Boca) said during Tuesday’s session.
Several residents argued instead for renovating/replacing municipal facilities without relinquishing publicly owned land or increasing traffic volume potentially threatening Boca Raton’s small-town character; others objected specifically relocation recreational amenities—including two softball fields currently located Memorial Park—to different sites around city limits.
Earlier this year—in February—Terra/Frisbie won out against Related Ross (West Palm Beach) plus two additional teams bidding redevelop so-called “government campus” sector downtown; original scheme then encompassed roughly two-and-a-half million total square footage comprising more than eleven hundred housing units.
Elsewhere within region—not limited just central Boca—Terra/Frisbie are advancing another redevelopment effort focused former Palm Beach Kennel Club site featuring potential capacity upwards one-thousand-one-hundred-forty-five apartment dwellings.
The greater Boca Raton area continues drawing developer interest: Mill Creek along with Group P6 are set build $101 million apartment complex totaling three hundred six residences in heart downtown (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/04/25/mill-creek-group-p6-score-approval-for-306-unit-boca-raton-apartment-project/) while James/Marta Batmasian recently secured Planning/Zoning Board backing erect pair twelve-story hotel towers adjacent Mizner Park (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/06/07/batmasians-get-green-light-for-mizner-park-hotel-towers-in-boca-raton/).
