The Boca Raton Planning & Zoning Board has approved a proposal from developers James and Marta Batmasian to construct a mixed-use hotel near the Mizner Park shopping and entertainment district. The board voted 5-1 on Thursday to recommend granting parking space waivers and other zoning changes, allowing for the development of Mizner Plaza at 132 and 170 Northeast Second Street.
The project will feature two 12-story towers with a total of 242 hotel rooms, nearly 19,000 square feet of retail space, and 16,000 square feet for restaurants. It is set to replace an existing U.S. Post Office branch and a retail plaza.
Additionally, the board recommended by the same margin that the city transfer its 0.3-acre parking lot at 190 Northeast Second Street to the Batmasians for underground parking construction.
Board member Dorothy MacDiarmid was the only dissenting vote on both recommendations. The final decision will be made by Boca Raton’s mayor and city council at a future meeting.
According to Ele Zachariades, land use attorney for the developers, “The parking waiver will allow the Batmasians to build just 372 spaces at the 1.9-acre site instead of the 569 spaces currently required.” The plan includes two levels of underground parking beneath what is now a city-owned lot with 17 spaces.
Zachariades added that “the waiver will allow the developer to incorporate a stepped-style crafted by Boca Raton-architecture firm HdA that would place the retail, restaurant spaces and amenities on the first, second, fourth and 12th floors of the hotel.” Hotel rooms are expected to range from 380 to 1,100 square feet in size.
The Batmasians have proposed replacing all existing parking spaces in the lot and converting its above-ground area into a small public park. However, most board members agreed with city staffers’ recommendation that developers pay $2.4 million—the appraised value—for the land through nearly $900,000 in cash plus credits for public improvements and maintenance related to new spaces and park facilities.
Zachariades stated that without these approvals, “the developers would pursue a design that would end up blocking most condo dwellers’ views and consist almost entirely of hotel rooms.”
Some residents expressed concerns about increased traffic and procedural issues. Jeff Costello, planning consultant for Tower 155’s condo association—adjacent to the proposed development—said there could be more than 2,400 additional daily trips in the area after completion of Mizner Plaza, much of it using a narrow alleyway between Tower 155 and the new buildings.
Richard De Witt, attorney representing Tower 155’s association, argued for delay: “Once the developers saw that they balked at the price and demanded a new appraisal,” he told board members regarding an earlier $3.3 million valuation by Walter Duke & Associates. De Witt claimed that “the Batmasians want ‘to pay zero’ for the land.”
Zachariades responded that “the first appraisal included public properties that were not part of her clients’ undergrounding plans.”
Despite opposition from some residents and representatives of neighboring condos completed as recently as 2020, most board members said they believe Mizner Plaza could help revitalize downtown Boca Raton. Board member Timothy Dornblaser said: “I do think it is a beautiful building. Mizner needs something. Mizner has a lot of problems.”
This marks James and Marta Batmasian’s second attempt since summer 2023 to develop a hotel near Mizner Park; their previous proposal called for two slightly shorter towers with more rooms overall but greater retail space.
James Batmasian has been active in local real estate since founding Investments Limited with his wife in the early 1980s. He served eight months in prison after pleading guilty to payroll tax evasion in 2008 but was pardoned by President Donald Trump in December 2020.
