Boca Raton will give developers 60 days to submit proposals for what city council members envision as a transformational project in the area around City Hall.
I wrote last week that the city had received two unsolicited proposals for those 30 acres—one from Terra/Frisbie and the other from Ross Related. Rather than choose from between them, the city will seek additional bids under Florida’s public-private partnership law. The developer would build City Hall and other public facilities in return for extensive private space that would include housing, retail, entertainment and office.
Real estate services firm CBRE is the city’s consultant. During Monday’s city council workshop meeting, a CBRE representative said the city’s solicitation would go out to the “25,000 developers in our database.” According to City Manager George Brown, that email will go out this morning.
Council members, especially Mayor Scott Singer, made clear again that they want things to move fast, even as they talk about “public input.” Under the schedule council members approved Monday, they would have a list of bidders in time for discussion at the Jan. 13 meeting. The council could choose a preferred bidder by spring.
Singer also made clear how big he is thinking. He didn’t want the solicitation to include many details because he wants to maximize “creativity and flexibility.” He invoked The Sphere, the futuristic entertainment venue in Las Vegas. “I’m not looking for it,” Singer said, but he is willing to be wowed. “We’ve been waiting, and the moment is now.”
Deputy Mayor Yvette Drucker also wanted few details, though she had a different reason. “Everyone knows Boca Raton,” Drucker said. “We don’t need to market ourselves.”
A few specifics, however, did emerge Monday.
Under this redevelopment, the police station likely would move to a 10-acre site next to the Spanish River Library. Unlike City Hall, the station doesn’t need to be downtown; a substation could suffice. Moving the station would free space to help create this new “public realm.”
As for the downtown library, it’s not moving. Doing so is “not under discussion,” Singer said.
Though some city employees may not work in it, the new City Hall will remain what Singer called “the centerpiece” of what the council calls Boca Raton’s “downtown campus.” But the council chamber could become “flex space” to allow for much more public use.
The council also wants the project to be part of the overall downtown, not self-contained. A pedestrian walkway might span Dixie Highway. “It should feel connected,” Councilwoman Fran Nachlas said, “not in a silo.”
Many details, of course, would remain. Example: What would happen to the banyan trees behind City Hall? Would the project include tennis courts and ballfields that now are near City Hall? Should there be performing arts space in case the effort to build a complex at Mizner Park fails?
Though council members noted that the city has been discussing such a project for two years, I still don’t think that much of the public understands the scope of what the council is contemplating. The Terra/Frisbie proposal envisions roughly 1,100 apartments. This project could make Mizner Park look modest. It is, Nachlas said, “a generational opportunity.”
BRIC eyes new land-use designation for further development
As council members rush to redevelop downtown, they likely soon will bless a proposal for similarly ambitious redevelopment of the former IBM headquarters.
That 124-acre property on Yamato Road near Interstate 95 is now called the Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRiC). Three years ago, owner CP Group and the city began talking about CP’s wish to make BRIC the most attractive economic startup site in the Southeastern United States.
To accomplish that goal, BRIC wants a new land-use designation for the site that would allow many new elements, such as housing. The designation—enhanced mobility from planned mobility—is only for BRiC. It is the only site in the city that meets all the requirements—at least 100 acres in size, zoned for light industrial research and within one-half mile of the city’s Tri-Rail station.
The northwest area has been Boca Raton’s job center—and heart of the city’s commercial tax base—for decades. More recently, the city allowed residential development in the similarly zoned Park at Broken Sound northwest of BRiC. But the limit was 2,500 units, and that cap almost has been reached.
On Nov. 7, the planning and zoning board unanimously recommended that the city council approve the change. Chairman Arnold Sevell said, “I can’t wait for this project.” I’ll have more when it gets to the council.
FAU fires Tom Herman
Florida Atlantic University fired Head Football Coach Tom Herman on Monday.
The Owls are just 2-8 this season, and they are winless in the American Athletic Conference. Their most recent loss came Saturday at Temple. Florida Atlantic rallied to tie at the end but lost in overtime.
Florida Atlantic hired Herman when they moved up from Conference USA to the tougher AAC. Herman had been at the pinnacle of the sport as coach at the University of Texas, but Texas fired him after the Longhorns went 32-18 during his four seasons. Herman went 6-14 at Florida Atlantic.
Herman had been out of coaching for three years when FAU hired him. When we spoke last spring, Herman acknowledged the difficulty of adapting to a sport that had changed dramatically during his time away, with liberal transfer rules and name, imagine and likeness (NIL) payments.
This marks the second firing of a coach who came to Florida Atlantic after getting fired. Willie Taggart, who had lost the job at Florida State, went 15-18 after succeeding Lane Kiffin. He led the Owls to a pair of 11-win seasons before getting the head job at Mississippi.
Herman was in the second year of a four-year contract that paid him $1.2 million annually. Florida Atlantic could owe him as much as $4 million.
Mistrial in alleged Boca Bash strangler case
A mistrial was declared last week in the case against a man accused of strangling his girlfriend at Boca Bash in 2022.
Cole Preston Goldberg faces one count of attempted second-degree murder and one count of battery by strangulation. According to a spokesman for the state attorney’s office, “The defense moved for a mistrial after the prosecutor, during an opening statement, unintentionally commented on the defendant’s right to remain silent.”
On Jan. 8, the judge will set a new trial date.
Delray again attempts to make plan for opioid settlement funds
The Delray Beach City Commission will try again today at a 3 p.m. special meeting to approve a policy for how the city will spend money from settlements of opioid legislation.
Roughly $250,000 is available now. According to a staff memo, Delray Beach could get a total of $1.5 million in annual payments through the 2039-40 budget year. One staff recommendation is to form an advisory committee. I’ll have more after the meeting.
