Redevelopment

Boca Raton Planning Board Approves AutoZone for 1950s Auto Shop Building

by
Daniel Nee
August 29, 2025

The building that will be the site of a new AutoZone store, 104 NW 20th Street, Boca Raton, FL, Aug. 2025. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

A former automotive repair shop, steps from a railroad crossing, that has seen better days is planned to be converted into a new AutoZone retail store following the approval of the city’s planning board.

The board unanimously advanced the application of the automotive parts chain to move into the building located at 104 NW 20th Street, just west of Dixie Highway. The building, constructed in the 1950s, was used as an auto repair shop previously, and occupies a square-shaped corner lot that also borders the Florida East Coast Railroad (Brightline) tracks.

“The proposed site improvements include the addition of royal palms and cocoa shrubs along 20th, so that will look a lot nicer,” said Senior City Planner Heather Hansen. “They’re increasing the parking spaces from one to twelve and one will be ADA van-accessible. Right now, it does not look pleasant from the auto repair shop to the south.”

The building that will be the site of a new AutoZone store, 104 NW 20th Street, Boca Raton, FL, Aug. 2025. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

Hansen said AutoZone will remove an asphalt driveway located on the west side of the building, which poses a safety hazard, and will also follow a request of the Community Appearance Board to plant a row of hedges and shrubs in between the store and railroad tracks.

While retail uses existed early in the building’s life, since the mid-1980s, the building was occupied by Boca Raton Small Engines, a memorandum from planning officials said. In 1978, the city’s zoning code changed, continuing to allow auto repair shops in the underlying zone, but eliminating retail stores as an allowable use. The planning board’s decision, which will presumably be ratified by the city council, allows retail to return to the site.

The building that will be the site of a new AutoZone store, 104 NW 20th Street, Boca Raton, FL, Aug. 2025. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

“A pattern of small retail uses fronting NW 20th Street within the industrial zoning districts has been established, and is a logical location to support services and needs of employees and visitors to the overall industrial uses in the area, as well as the nearby residential areas and Florida Atlantic University (FAU) campus,” the city’s planning staff wrote, recommending approval of the application.

The existing approximately 10,560 square foot building is flanked by existing auto repair shops to its south, as well as across the divided NW 20th Street.