Boca Raton Planning Board OK’s Conversion of Hotel Into 125 Apartments

The Holiday Inn at NW 53rd Street, Boca Raton, FL, April 2026. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

The Boca Raton planning and zoning board on Thursday night approved a plan to convert a hotel into 125 apartments and a restaurant. The plan will leave the hotel building intact and also connect it to the nearby El Rio Trail.

The board heard the application of Boca HI Suites, owner of the Holiday Inn property at 701 NW 53rd Street off Yamato Road, which brought the proposal to the city. Plans call for the hotel to be converted into an apartment complex with 125 residential units, an attached restaurant with outdoor dining, and three retail units totaling 4,501 square feet. The 125 units would be divided between 83,697 square feet, with 10 percent of the units designated for affordable housing and 5 percent designated as workforce housing.

“Right now, this building has five different wings but is one solid structure,” said David Milledge, an attorney representing the property owner, explaining that the building will remain intact as it currently stands and will be improved aesthetically on its exterior. The interior will be renovated to convert the hotel space into apartment space, and a major amenity will be a link to the nearby El Rio Trail.

The Holiday Inn at NW 53rd Street, Boca Raton, FL, April 2026. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

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The Holiday Inn at NW 53rd Street, Boca Raton, FL, April 2026. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

“We’re providing an 8-foot shared use path around the site that will connect to the El Rio trail,” he said. “We really think this is going to activate the El Rio Canal with some vibrancy. You’re going to be able to stop, have coffee, have a meal, and with the Tri-Rail project, we think it’s going to have a lot of use.”

A restaurant tenant has not yet been chosen, but the company expects to lease the space to a private owner who will operate the eatery and a bar with outdoor seating adjacent to the trail.

The hotel currently has 183 rooms, measuring approximately 400 square feet each. The apartment building, once converted, will offer efficiency units, one bedroom units, and two bedroom units. Plans call for one hotel room to be converted into an efficiency unit of approximately 400 square feet, two hotel rooms will be combined to create a one bedroom unit of approximately 800 square feet, and three hotel rooms will be combined to form a two bedroom unit of approximately 1200 square feet.

Planning board members inquired about the projected rent prices for the units, which the owner stated will be decided-upon once all approvals have been received and after consultation with a broker.

“Because of this building, built in the 1980s, you would think the market would demand lower rents than the new projects that would be built since they are going to be new, fancy, shiny rental units,” said Milledge. “There is an expectation here that the rents truly will be affordable.”

Rents are likely to start at about $1,500 per month, the owner estimated.

The Holiday Inn at NW 53rd Street, Boca Raton, FL, April 2026. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

The three retail units will face NW 8th Avenue and will have pedestrian access on the exterior of the building. As part of the application, the owner will also provide for the construction of an 8-foot shared-use path connected to the El Rio Trail at both the north and south ends of the property, as well as a new crosswalk which will be located on NW 53rd Street, plus a new bus shelter at the property’s main entrance on NW 7th Avenue. The reconfiguration will also include ADA-accessible enhanced landscaping, bicycle parking, a pedestrian sidewalk, and the covered outdoor dining area.

The board approved the application in a unanimous 7-0 vote. It will now move to the city council for final approval.