The developers for Boca Raton’s government campus project have, yet again, compromised in their monthslong conflict with a group of residents over a government campus redevelopment project.
The project has spurred ballot referendum questions, fiery city meetings and a fierce debate about what Boca Raton is and should be.
Terra and Frisbie Groups, the developers for the project, revealed more changes to their proposal during a city meeting on Monday. Perhaps the most significant revision to the project is a reduction in development area.
Rather than sprawling across the 31 acres at the intersection between West Palmetto Park Road and Dixie Highway, the development would be consolidated to less than 8 acres, all east of NW 2nd Street near the Brightline station, according to a statement from Terra and Frisbie Groups.
The proposal for the 8 acres includes 769 residences, 186 condominiums, a 150,000-square-foot office building and a 180-key hotel. Though a hotel was part of the original proposal, it was, at one point, taken away during the revision process.
The new proposal also includes a pedestrian plaza that links Palmetto Park Road to the Brightline station.
As for the land west of NW 2nd Street, the city will retain its ownership, with the goal of rejuvenating what exists there now. Plans include a new city hall, community center, a playground, a Banyan Village (a site to “celebrate Boca’s historic trees”) and recreational facilities, such as the tennis courts, will be constructed.
The proposal also gained more public open space, doubling from nearly 8 acres to more than 15.
Memorial Park will anchor the area west of NW 2nd Avenue. The park had become a primary fixture in the Save Boca group’s argument against the project. The movement of residents formed shortly after the project was announced and quickly gained traction, as many residents banded together to oppose what they saw as a threat to the city and voter autonomy.
“I think we’ll have an opportunity to fill the vision that has long gone unfulfilled for what some people thought of as Memorial Park,” Mayor Scott Singer said during Monday’s meeting.
Terra and Frisbie Group’s third iteration of the plan illustrates the developers’ willingness to work with residents, which was a motivator in Singer choosing them above any other proposers, he said.
Whether the Save Boca members will be amenable to the new plan remains unknown, though founder Jon Pearlman delivered another one of his impassioned speeches during Monday’s meeting, praising what Save Boca has accomplished.
“The citizens are appalled by what you’ve allowed to happen on this city on private land. They’re not going to want to give away any public land for some developer to build more condos and high rises and a hotel,” Pearlman said to the council. “There’s no benefit, and we can build our own park, our own city hall, and everything we need without giving away one square foot of public land away. And you will see that when this is put to a vote.”
Save Boca has had a significant impact on why the government campus project, in its current form, is a far cry from what city officials and the developers pictured it to be a little more than eight months ago.
When Terra and Frisbie’s “One Boca” proposal edged out the other developers competing for a chance to build in Boca Raton’s downtown — including Related Ross, a subset of the global Related Companies founded by billionaire tycoon and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross — they had a bold vision: more than 1,100 apartments, a hotel, 250,000 square feet of office space, 85,000 square feet of retail.
It was too bold, according to what would become thousands of city residents vehemently opposed to what they collectively believed could become no less than an irreparable, traffic-inducing blight in Boca Raton.
City meetings soon stretched for hours, and residents — even some children who played hooky to attend — poured out of the meeting room, waiting to tell the council members just how bad they thought the project was.
Terra and Frisbie first made modifications to their proposal in May by reducing residences from 1,129 units to 912, increasing recreation area, improving pedestrian mobility and adding “enhanced public spaces.”
The project was, in the eyes of many Boca Raton residents, still too much. Throughout the summer, Save Boca members stationed themselves at the downtown library and even went door-to-door, gathering signatures for ordinance and charter amendments that propose voter control on any selling or leasing of more than half an acre of city-owned land. Each week, bright green lawn signs proclaiming “SAVE BOCA” filled an increasing number of yards.
In response, Terra and Frisbie developers altered the project again in early September: They reduced the residences from 912 to 704 units, took away the hotel, reduced the commercial space, increased green space, said they’d enhance the downtown tennis courts and create a monument commemorating Memorial Park.
Save Boca continued to fight to reduce the size of the project. By the end of September, the group had submitted the required number of signatures for both amendments, and both have since been certified. City officials also agreed to create a ballot question for the upcoming election regarding resident approval of the project as it is currently proposed in partnership with Terra and Frisbie.
Terra and Frisbie have since held three community meetings to gather input and plan to host more in the future.
“We are proud of the vision to add new park space to areas where none exists today, to enhance and formally dedicate Memorial Park to veterans and their families and transform underused land into an active, people-focused destination,” Rob Frisbie, the Frisbie group managing partner, said during the meeting.
