Ferrari Sales, Service Facility Approved for Industrial Park in Boca Raton

Two variants of the exterior design of a proposed Ferrari car agency in Boca Raton, Sept. 2024. (Planning Document)

A business that will incorporate the storage, servicing and digital-based sales of Ferrari exotic cars will be permitted to open in the industrial park at West Rogers Circle in Boca Raton after failing to gain the recommendation of city officials in a previous proposal.

The application to open the facility was filed by Recovery Racing LLC, led by Stuart and Garrett Hayim who are associated with Ferrari of Fort Lauderdale and another Ferrari and Maserati dealership in New York. The project received unanimous approval from the city council Tuesday night despite some pushback from current business owners at the industrial park, who questioned whether a car dealership would bring too much traffic – particularly fast-moving traffic with exotic cars – to the area. The facility would be located at 6403 West Rogers Circle.

The facility is not legally considered a car dealership, however, as retail dealerships are not permitted in the zone. The previous rejection of the application centered around the fact that too many facets of the proposal were those normally associated specifically with car dealerships. In the updated proposal, Recovery Racing agreed to eliminate a floor plan that resembled that of a dealership, as well as tone down the coloration and design of the exterior of the building to reflect the fact that it is not a retail dealership. Instead, the facility will be known as a “car agency” that will reduce the amount of traffic compared to its existing use, an independent traffic study found. “Car agencies” are conditional uses in the M2 zone, in which the property is located.

“We had a revised traffic study that looked at real-world accounts at the largest Ferrari dealership in the world,” said David Milledge, the attorney representing Recovery Racing. “They went out there and did driveway counts to determine what is happening at the world’s largest Ferrari dealership – that is what is before you today. Based off of this use, it would be a reduction.”

Ferrari Daytona SP3 (Photo: Ferrari Media)

There will be no walk-up sales at the facility, Milledge said. Instead, customers will select their vehicle online and it will be delivered to the buyer’s address after the sale is completed. Only those with appointments will be allowed to enter the facility. Additionally, Milledge said, there will no heavy mechanical work performed at the facility, only maintenance. Major repairs and services will still take place at Ferrari of Fort Lauderdale.

According to the traffic study, the “car agency” will generate 296 trips per day, down dramatically from the 1,152 daily trips estimated under the original application, which included a traditional public-facing new car sales operation. Some neighboring business owners questioned the reduction, and reiterated their objections to the project due to what they see as an opportunity for traffic to move quickly through the area.

“There was a high-end exotic car dealership across the road, and I can’t tell you the number of times we heard vehicles traveling at high rates of speed down Clint Moore Road,” said business owner Jim Falzone. “You can tell pretty well when these cars open up. Before a sale, someone is going to want to test drive these. It’s hard to believe someone will buy a hundred thousand dollar sports car without ever getting in it.”

Milledge said there will be no test drives allowed at the site, which will measure 48,406 square feet.

“A swim school, a personal training facility, a dance studio, lashes and beauty, a florist, or even a musical instrument repair business would be allowed in this area,” said Milledge. “This will have less trip generation than any of those uses.”

“People assume a Ferrari owner is just irresponsible or these owners are irresponsible,” he added. “It’s hard to believe that every Ferrari owner is going to be speeding up the road.”

The largest Ferrari dealership in the United States sells between 20 and 25 vehicles per month, Milledge said, assuring council members the Boca Raton facility is “not going to be close” to that figure.

Before voting on approval, council members asked for city officials to work with the owner to provide traffic calming measures to the area in order to alleviate concerns of speeding, and deploy extra police patrols since there have already been complaints of speeders in the vicinity. Engineers may also look at nearby traffic signals and whether they should be re-timed.

“There will be more police in that area – don’t call me if you get a ticket, you’ve been warned,” Councilwoman Yvette Drucker said with a smile.

Officials and one resident praised Recovery Racing for going back to the drawing board on their proposal and scaling back the retail-oriented component of the development, saying it was the right way for a company to handle a development application rather than opening a business that may not meet the underlying zoning requirements for the area and coming back to the board for ratification at a later date once opened.

“If it wasn’t going to be this, it could be another use that would be allowed that potentially could cause a lot more traffic,” said Councilwoman Fran Nachlas.

While the Rogers Circle area was – and is – zoned to primarily support industrial uses, the cluster of businesses has evolved over the years to include more customer-centric operations, including a personal training center, a music academy, and Barrel of Monks Brewing, among others.

“There has been a change of uses,” said Mayor Scott Singer. “This has not been an industrial park only over the last 40 years. I believe there are ways to address potential concerns, and this use is compatible with the uses that are there.”

The council granted approval in a unanimous 5-0 vote.