Boca Raton Council Selects Top Developer for City Hall, Downtown Redevelopment

A proposed new city government and redevelopment plan from Boca City Center. (Planning Document)

Boca Raton city council members on Tuesday night selected a partner for what could be one of the most significant development projects in city history. A majority of council members, after reviewing four proposals for a public-private partnership to develop a new government campus and surrounding mixed-use neighborhood, said they favored the proposal submitted by Boca Raton City Center, a partnership between developers Terra Group and Frisbie Group.

The Terra-Frisbie proposal was ranked as the first choice of four of five members of the governing body, with a proposal by rival Related Ross coming in second. With the selection of the top choice having been made, the city council passed a resolution instructing city staff to begin negotiations to develop a non-binding interim agreement that may evolve into a permanent agreement after due diligence is performed and public input is received. The city will host an open house event next week where details on the project will be presented in a more personal setting.

Renderings of a proposal by Boca City Center, Terra-Frisbie Group, for the city’s new downtown campus. (Planning Document)

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Renderings of a proposal by Boca City Center, Terra-Frisbie Group, for the city’s new downtown campus. (Planning Document)

Renderings of a proposal by Boca City Center, Terra-Frisbie Group, for the city’s new downtown campus. (Planning Document)

Renderings of a proposal by Boca City Center, Terra-Frisbie Group, for the city’s new downtown campus. (Planning Document)

Renderings of a proposal by Boca City Center, Terra-Frisbie Group, for the city’s new downtown campus. (Planning Document)

Renderings of a proposal by Boca City Center, Terra-Frisbie Group, for the city’s new downtown campus. (Planning Document)

The public-private partnership is aimed at allowing private industry to develop an approximately 30-acre site near the city’s Brightline high speed rail station with a new city hall building, a surrounding government campus, plus more than a thousand units of residential housing along with commercial space and amenities. A hotel could also be part of the package. The city benefits by having its long-discussed new government campus constructed by the developer, while new ratables will be added to the downtown area, potentially alleviating some of the housing demand that has sent rental rates skyrocketing in recent years.

Specifically, the Boca Raton City Center concept included a city hall complex between 36,000 and 100,000 square feet, a 50,600 square foot community center, a 10,000 square foot police substation, 265,000 square feet of open space or recreational facilities, and 1,129 units of residential housing in a 10 story building and several three-story garden homes.

The hotel portion of the Boca Raton City Center proposal includes a 150-key hotel that would span 94,600 square feet. About 250,000 square feet would be reserved for office space and another 156,690 square feet would be set aside for retail and restaurant space. Special amenities in the proposal include a racquet sports center, a “civic pavilion,” a grassy playscape area known as “The Meadows,” and an “urban meeting point” known as “The Nook.”

The proposal envisions 3,434 parking spaces – 2,407 in a garage, 935 surface spaces, and 92 on-street spaces.

The decision came after two days of marathon sessions that lasted more than four hours and included sales pitches from representatives of the four development groups as well as public input.

“I believe it’s the best choice for the community,” said Deputy Mayor Yvette Drucker, of the Terra-Frisbie proposal. “I believe it will create jobs in its own organic way.”

Drucker said the size of the proposal led her to favor Terra-Frisbie. She believed other proposals included too much office space, and too large a hotel for the demand of the site. Likewise, Councilman Mark Wigder said he preferred the size of the selected proposal, as well as an idea to create a pedestrian bridge that would connect the community to Mizner Park.

“In the end, a lot of the projects cover a lot of the things we wanted,” said Drucker. “If we could mesh them together, it would be the perfect project.”

Renderings of a proposal by Boca City Center, Terra-Frisbie Group, for the city’s new downtown campus. (Planning Document)

Renderings of a proposal by Boca City Center, Terra-Frisbie Group, for the city’s new downtown campus. (Planning Document)

Renderings of a proposal by Boca City Center, Terra-Frisbie Group, for the city’s new downtown campus. (Planning Document)

Councilman Andy Thompson was the sole dissenter, favoring Related Ross’s proposal, but he did rank Terra-Frisbie second.

“We don’t have to have a Taj Mahal” for a city hall, he said. ” We don’t have to have a place that’s over the top.”

Thompson was quick to point out that while the four proposals each contained unique features and, on occasion, vastly different sizes, densities and focal points, the vote Tuesday night centered on choosing a partner rather than approving any type of concrete design for the project’s development.

“This is really just the first step in a much larger dance,” Thompson said. “The exact proposals that were submitted – none of them are going to be built exactly as they were submitted. What the ultimate development is going to look like has not been determined. It will be determined over the next few months.”

Mayor Scott Singer said he based his choice on the developer “creating a place that people want to be in.”

Renderings of a proposal by Boca City Center, Terra-Frisbie Group, for the city’s new downtown campus. (Planning Document)

“I think the Terra-Frisbie plan, the economics speak better to us,” he said. “But it’s not just the money, that’s not the concern, it’s the fact that the whole is worth more than the sum of its parts.”

City staff will work with the Terra-Frisbie Group to execute a short-term agreement by March 18, 2025. Following the interim agreement, the city and its partner will negotiate a full agreement, with officials promising “significant” opportunities for public input.

Representatives from Terra-Frisbie will be on hand next week to present an open house session on the project. The event is scheduled for Feb. 19, 2025 from 6-8 p.m. at The Studio in Mizner Park. The event will include renderings of potential aspects of the project, the opportunity for residents to interact with the development team, and the ability to share input or ideas.