Boca Developer Seeks Permission to Build 394 Apartments, Eight Story Towers Instead of Retail

The site at 171 West Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL, Oct. 2025. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

A pair of development firms will seek permission next week to modify an already-approved project to allow 394 residential units in two, eight-story towers in place of a retail complex where a Winn-Dixie supermarket once stood.

The developers, KRCX and FCI Camino LLC, received prior approval to construct a retail complex at 171 West Camino Real that would consist of 37,399 square feet of commercial space within two 35-foot tall buildings. The developer, commonly known as Kimco Realty, is seeking to modify that approval to instead build 394 residential units in two, eight-story buildings that will stand 96-feet tall.

A hearing and vote on the proposal is scheduled for the Oct. 14, 2025 meeting of the city’s Community Redevelopment Authority, which consists of city council members. The meeting is being held at a special time – 10 a.m. – just prior to a rescheduled council work session and regular meeting.

The site at 171 West Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL, Oct. 2025. (Photo: Planning Document)

The site at 171 West Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL, Oct. 2025. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

The site at 171 West Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL, Oct. 2025. (Photo: Planning Document)

The CRA will consider the revised project, which will measure 479,485 square feet and also include seven levels of structured parking, 2,048 square feet of space for a fast food restaurant, 2,179 square feet for a casual restaurant, and 4,405 square feet of additional retail space. The project location takes up a 4.54-acre western portion of the overall 9.13- acre property and is considered the second phase of a larger project. The eastern portion of the property – known as phase one – is already completed and consists of 346 residential units. That complex is known as Fitzgerald Camino Real, and also stands at 96-feet in height.

According to a memorandum from city staff, the newly-proposed project will include a variety of units between one and three bedrooms that vary in size from about 693 square feet to 1,550 square feet. The buildings would generally match the color and design scheme of the buildings constructed on the eastern half of the tract. The first of the twin eight-story towers would be located adjacent to the northern property line, and would include 155 residential units totaling 185,948 square feet. The ground floor will consist of a mix of 15 residential units with a 1,560-square-foot business center and 1,526 square feet of office suites available for residents to use. The second building would include 239 residential units totaling 293,537 square feet. In that building, the ground floor would consist of 20 residential units and a total of 8,632 square feet of retail uses in four bays, including 2,048 square feet for a fast food restaurant, 2,179 square feet for a casual restaurant restaurant, and 4,405 square feet of general retail space.

The second building would also include a seven story, 793-space parking structure totaling 291,304 square feet. It would be located directly south of the east-west existing access road, south of the first building.

The property is now vacant, but between 1965 and 2020, was occupied by an approximately 72,000 square foot, “suburban-style shopping center” that was anchored between 1982 and 2010 by a Winn-Dixie supermarket. Several projects have been proposed for the site since the closure of the supermarket, one of which was denied by the city in 2018, forcing the property owner to go back to the drawing board. That redesign effort resulted in a plan to develop half of the property with residential units and half with two retail buildings. Now, the developer is seeking to allow residential units mixed with retail on the second half of the site, more than doubling the height of the originally-proposed buildings.

The site at 171 West Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL, Oct. 2025. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

The site at 171 West Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL, Oct. 2025. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

According to the memorandum, Kimco has argued that the property “has proven nonviable for a large-scale retail redevelopment,” bolstered by the fact that the company was unable to secure a new anchor after the departure of Winn-Dixie. Kimco representatives believe the position of the lot makes it invisible to motorists, who would need to cross railroad tracks and navigate the winding Camino Real and a nearby pocket park and gas station to enter the would-be retail center.

“Vehicular accessibility also presents a problem for a potential retail development, with no direct access to Camino Real, leaving access to such development only from SW 3rd Avenue which, again, is a two-lane local street,” the memorandum said.

The CRA meeting will be held Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 10 a.m. in the city meeting room at 6500 Congress Avenue.