Government

Boca Raton Planning Board Approves 12-Story, 219 Room Hotel Across From Mizner Park

by
Daniel Nee
March 6, 2026

The current layout of Mizner Plaza (left, Boca Daily News Photo) and the proposed hotel and retail space (right, rendering).

The developers of a proposed 12-story, 219 room hotel across from Mizner Park in Boca Raton scored a win Thursday, with the city’s planning board unanimously recommending final approval of the project.

The development, known in its infancy as “Mizner Plaza,” would sit across the street from Mizner Park on NW 2nd Avenue, bordered by NE 1st Avenue and Sanborn Square to the west and NE Mizner Boulevard to the east. The 1.65 acre site is current developed with a strip mall and the downtown Boca Raton post office, both of which would be demolished in favor of the new hotel and retail complex. In an earlier application before the board, the developers had offered to purchase a small city-owned parking area beside the post office property and turn it into a park in exchange for permission to build underground parking beneath it, but that proposal faced opposition from some residents and was removed from the latest proposal. As part of what was approved Thursday night, the city-owned parking area would remain as-is, with no development there.

The current layout of Mizner Plaza, which would be replaced with a 12-story, 219 room hotel complex. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

A rendering of the proposed Mizner Plaza hotel property. (Planning Document)

As part of the revised application, the developers, James and Marta Batmasian, reduced the number of hotel rooms in the complex to 219 from 242, and converted 4,000 square feet of restaurant space to a hotel spa. The design of the building has not changed since it was initially proposed. The number of parking spaces was recalculated under a new formula, leaving the number of stalls reduced from 557 to 328 – partially due to the lack of the parking that would have been constructed underneath the once-proposed park.

Attorney Ele Zachariades, representing the developers, said the 12-story, 219 room hotel would be divided between two towers and also include two floors of retail and restaurant use. Within the larger tower, the East Tower, 115 rooms have been proposed, totaling approximately 154,614 square feet, and the West Tower – adjacent to NE 1st Avenue – would contain 104 rooms, totaling approximately 101,028 square feet. A new water feature has been proposed in between the staircase and the NE 2nd Street sidewalk, which would be approximately 61 feet in length. In addition to the stairs, the second level will be accessible by a 275-foot pedestrian ramp located at the southeast corner of the property.

The current layout of Mizner Plaza, which would be replaced with a 12-story, 219 room hotel complex. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

A rendering of the proposed Mizner Plaza hotel property. (Planning Document)

In addition to the hotel, the complex will include the 1,800 square feet of retail space, the 4,000 square foot spa, and 6,600 square feet of restaurant space on the second level. An additional 5,400 square feet of restaurant space will be reserved on the 12th floor for a restaurant with a view, alongside a pool deck.

The proposal faced some opposition, primarily from residents of the nearby Tower 155 complex, who were concerned about the view from their building as well as the effect new construction would have on the stability of the surrounding land. As a condition of approval, the board added a requirement that vibration studies be conducted in order to ensure safety during and after construction.

One resident criticized some of the outdoor spaces of the project, including stairways, being counted toward open space.

“Stairs leading to a second-floor retail terrace, and the terrace itself, should not count as required open space, and yet no one has mentioned that,” said Jeffrey Weinsten. “It’s just something you’re going to go along with? How are senior citizens going to walk up this ‘open space’ staircase?”

The Boca Raton downtown post office, which would be demolished in favor of a 12-story hotel complex. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

A rendering of the proposed Mizner Plaza hotel property. (Planning Document)

Some neighbors, including Shelly Nesbitt, who lives in a single-family home near the project, endorsed its approval.

“One of the biggest benefits to living on Mizner Boulevard was the walkability and the amenities to all of the different things we have in Boca,” she said, adding that she bought her home 10 years ago and it has increased in value. “That quadrant of single-family homes have appreciated the most of any single-family homes in the area because of the walkability to amenities.”

The Mizner Plaza developers have also pledged to build elevated sidewalks and crosswalks to improve safety in the area, and will contribute $27,000 annually, in perpetuity, for improvements to transit and mobility in the Mizner Park area as a whole.

While planning board members came out in support of the idea, some expressed disappointment that the previously-proposed park had been deleted from the plans, but acknowledged it was due to criticism over public property being transferred to the developer.

“I supported the project when it came around the first time,” said board member Timothy Dornblaser. “I’m disappointed the city-owned parcel is not going to be part of it and turned into a park. I thought it was going to be a much better use of that property than what it is now, and it’s probably going to be stuck in perpetuity as a non-conforming parking area because it’s not big enough to do anything else with.”

“Parks are a very important part of downtowns, but nonetheless, we heard opposition to our request to purchase the city-owned lot, improve it as a public park, and maintain it in perpetuity as a public park,” said Zachariades, in reply. “The city-owned lot was just going to be a park – there was no vertical development proposed. We did propose underground parking underneath the park.”

Now that the development has been advanced by the planning board, it will fall to the Community Redevelopment Agency – made up of city council members – to grant final approval, since it falls within the CRA’s downtown jurisdictional zone.