A showdown is looming in Boca Raton between two financial heavyweights.
On one side is Simon Property Group, which owns Town Center Mall. The Indianapolis-based company is the largest mall owner in the country.
On the other side is Manhattan-based Seritage Growth Properties, which owns roughly 18 of the mall’s 141 acres. That 18-acre site was home to a Sears store, which closed in 2018. Seritage wants to redevelop the site with 17 buildings offering 240,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space called The Collection at Boca Town Center. The project’s five-story parking garage would have nearly 1,000 spaces.
A preview of this showdown between companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange took place at the Dec. 15 meeting of the planning and zoning board, which was considering the project. It would require an amendment to the decades-old site plan for Town Center itself.
Seritage also wants to sever its relationship with the mall. That issue also was before the planning and zoning board. Severance and the site plan amendment eventually will go to the city council.
This showdown has been coming since 2019. That’s when Simon sued Seritage, alleging that the mall owner has the right to buy those 18 acres under the contract with Sears.
Simon argues that Seritage’s project would diminish the value of the mall, which is the most valuable property in Palm Beach County. City planners also say that allowing The Collection would leave the mall in violation of the city code by having too few parking spaces.
An attorney for Seritage countered that Simon opposes the project only because the company hopes to buy Seritage’s land on the cheap. He compared Simon’s tactics to “terrorism” and characterized the dispute as “Russia vs. Ukraine.”
City planners recommended that the board deny both requests. Even if the project got approved, staff said, the city should attach four pages worth of conditions.
The staff based that recommendation on what the city believes would be serious traffic problems from the project on Glades Road to the north and St. Andrews Boulevard to the west, not to mention potential issues on the mall property.
“In spite of city staff’s efforts to bring the applicant’s attention to these problems,” the memo states, “the applicant has elected not to address them. Staff also foresees problems with Seritage trying to create what it calls a separate “village” next to a very large mall.
An attorney for Simon picked up on that theme. With this project, she said, Seritage would be “turning their backs to the mall,” creating incompatible neighbors.
Even though the lawsuit technically isn’t part of the discussion about the project, it’s hard to separate debate about The Collection from the litigation. Several board members expressed frustration that the two sides hadn’t met. “They could solve a lot of issues,” one member said.
There followed an argument about who was to blame. Seritage’s attorney said, “My client is not the aggressor.” A Simon vice president said the company is willing to meet with anyone at any time but hasn’t been asked.
Board members tried to encourage mediation. They proposed delaying their vote 90 days to give Simon and Seritage time to solve some of those issues. At first, that compromise seemed to be acceptable.
After a recess, however, Seritage’s attorney said his client had reconsidered and wanted a vote that night. The board then voted 4-3 to recommend that the council deny the site plan amendment. Because of that vote, the board did not need to decide on the severance.
With that decision, Seritage is betting that it can sway at least three of the five council members. The project could come to the council this month or next month.
Everyone agrees on the need for redeveloping the Sears site. The question is who will get to do it. Given the amount of money going into this showdown, the winner stands to make a lot of money on the outcome.
Juneteenth
Juneteenth is now a city holiday in Boca Raton.
During Tuesday’s city council meeting, City Manager Leif Ahnell said the request to designate June 19 came out of employee negotiations. The date commemorates the arrival of federal troops in Texas to fully free all enslaved people more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
President Biden declared Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021. Florida does not recognize Juneteenth, though many cities do. Council members unanimously put Boca Raton on that list.
Florida budget requests from Delray
With the legislative session starting in March, Delray Beach has released its list of budget requests. Among other things, the city wants $2.74 million toward construction of its fire station and emergency operations center.
In addition, the city is seeking $5 million toward seawall and drainage improvements. More than other South Florida cities, Delray Beach faces a combined problem of aging infrastructure and sea level rise.
Previously, Delray Beach’s representative in the Florida House was Republican Mike Caruso. This year, it’s Joe Casello, who is one of just 35 Democrats in the120-member House.
Affordable housing bond program
One of the biggest jobs facing the new Palm Beach County Commission is implementing the $200 million affordable housing bond program that voters approved in November.
Supporters sold the program as necessary to help essential workers—teachers, police officers—find local housing as costs have risen so rapidly. The advertising portrayed the program as a grass-roots effort.
But most contributors to the Hometown Housing Trust, which financed the campaign, came from the development industry. Given the absence of details, it appears that commissioners will be able to dole out the money as they want and to whom they want.
Connections will matter. So it is noteworthy that Melissa McKinlay, who as a commissioner last year was one of the program’s most vocal supporters, has taken a new job after term limits forced her off the commission. She is now vice president for Government Relations for West Palm Beach-based WGI, a national developer.
Doc’s in good hands
I wrote recently that the Delray Beach City Commission approved a plan that will preserve Doc’s All American, the 1950s-style downtown restaurant. The developer has chosen the team of Andrew Dugard and Pushkar Marathe to operate Doc’s.
Last month, The Palm Beach Post named Marathe’s and Dugard’s Ela Curry Kitchen in Palm Beach Gardens as the best restaurant to open in the county last year. The two previously opened Stage Kitchen in Palm Beach Gardens. The Post praised Ela Curry Kitchen’s fresh takes on Indian food.
