Government

Boca Raton Voters to Decide on $175M Bond for New Police HQ

by
Daniel Nee
September 23, 2025

Renderings of a potential new police headquarters building off Spanish River Boulevard in Boca Raton, FL, Sept. 2025. (Planning Document)

Boca Raton voters will decide in March whether to allow the city to float up to $175 million in bonds for the construction of a new police headquarters off Spanish River Boulevard.

The city council on Monday voted in favor of placing the question on the municipal election ballot March 10, 2026. The referendum represents the latest high-stakes matter that will be placed before voters – including the election of a new mayor and two council members, plus the possibility of a question on the pending government campus redevelopment project. According to plans presented by city staff, the police headquarters construction project would be funded by a combination of existing funds and the bond measure, which has been recommended since the city enjoys a triple-A bond rating.

The council’s vote on Tuesday differed from the recommendation presented to the governing body by the city’s Financial Advisory Board, whose members settled on a $125 million bond measure after failing to find support for a $100 million question. Officials at Tuesday’s council meeting said the $175 million figure is a maximum amount that could be borrowed, reflecting a desire to provide breathing room for the project, which would span several years given a public bidding process, design and engineering work, and construction. The discrepancy between the board’s recommendation and the council’s vote generated some criticism from residents who attended the meeting to object to separate, unrelated plans to redevelop the city’s government campus downtown.

The proposed location of a new police headquarters building in Boca Raton, FL, May 2025. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

“Part of the reason why they wanted to start with a lower number bond is because of what’s happened because of the government campus,” Jon Pearlman, the founder of the “Save Boca” group that has opposed the downtown plan, told council members. “They no longer have faith in what you’re doing. They were worried that if you came to the people with a $175 million bond they could turn it down – which could happen – because everyone is on alert now.”

Mayor Scott Singer said after the meeting that the city has not contemplated alternative funding methods should the bond referendum be defeated at the polls.

“We just decided to put this on a referendum, so we have not discussed the alternative yet,” he said. “I’m optimistic that the residents will understand the value of our public safety and appreciate the responsible measure that support for that would entail.”

Renderings of a potential new police headquarters building off Spanish River Boulevard in Boca Raton, FL, Sept. 2025. (Planning Document)

Deputy City Manager Jim Zervis said the total cost of the project has not yet been determined since – assuming the referendum passes – the project would be put out to bid. But he did share estimated figures that shed light on varying iterations of the project based on the projected need for future space and the resulting size of the building that would be required. For example, the current need in 2025 would call for a 166,349 square foot building at a total cost of $174.4 million; a 2035 need that envisions 182,462 square feet at a cost of $184.9 million; and a projected requirement for 2045, which calls for a 192,712 square foot space at a cost of $192.6 million.

“That’s the culmination of the space-needs analysis,” said Zervis, factoring in an 8 percent escalation.

A fourth option, which Zervis said is favored by staff, calls for a hybrid plan.

“This is where we build out the square footage for 2045, but we only finish the space to 2035,” he said. “We leave some space for the future, but the building itself will be built out. We can go in and do the finishing touches when we’re ready to occupy and the need exists.”

Under this plan, the building would be constructed with 192,712 square feet of space, but not all of it would be outfitted for use. This would come at an estimated cost of $190.2 million. In terms of price per square foot, the hybrid plan would produce the lowest figure of all the options presented, at $987.

The proposed location of a new police headquarters building in Boca Raton, FL, May 2025. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

The current police headquarters building measures 30,000 square feet over 4.39 acres. The property along Spanish River Boulevard – adjacent to the Spanish River Library – would provide room for an expansive campus over more than 19 acres. The new headquarters, officials have said, would be more centrally-located given current population trends, and more resident-friendly, with meeting rooms where residents can interact with police officers to discuss concerns, enhanced security features to protect visitors, safe swap zones for eBay transactions and parents who carpool, a child car seat installation area, and streamlined access for the pickup of reports and documents. The new building would also be more energy efficient, and located closer to I-95 and other main thoroughfares through town that would allow officers to fan out quickly in an emergency.

Replacing the current building on its current footprint is impractical, Zervis has said previously.

“We are constrained by development on all sides,” he told council members when the project was discussed over the summer. “Right now, with the train tracks on one side and traffic that is downtown and in the residential communities, it makes things challenging.”

Zervis said the current schedule, should the referendum pass, calls for design and permitting to begin in 2026, preliminary site construction to begin in 2027, and completion and move-in expected sometime in 2029.