The public and the Boca Raton City Council heard Monday from the four firms seeking to redevelop the 30 acres around City Hall. In just two weeks, the council plans to rank the firms, with the goal of approving an interim agreement on March 18.
I have previously reported key details of each proposal. For this post, I will summarize the individual sales pitches and the questions from council members. As was the case Monday, the firms are listed in alphabetical order.
Boca Raton City Center
This is the joint venture of two South Florida developers: Miami-based Terra and Palm Beach-based Frisbie. This was the first proposal the city received, and it remains the most detailed, especially about the new public space that the redevelopment would create.
Terra/Frisbie proposes 1,129 apartments, 250,000 square feet of offices, 157,000 square feet of retail and restaurants and a 150-room hotel. Yet company representatives noted Monday that their plan is more than one million square feet less than one competitor and even less than another. They praised the scale and stated that the plan offers “something for everyone.”
Mayor Scott Singer asked about the timetable for the new city hall and community center. He heard that construction could begin 15 to 18 months after site plan approval. Councilman Andy Thomson noted the detailed nature of the plan but asked if the company could be “flexible.” Terra CEO David Martin said, “You have our commitment.”
Namdar Group
Based on council members’ comments, this proposal has little chance of getting the bid.
Namdar proposes 8,015 apartments—at least eight times more than any other proposal. Though company representatives stressed that buildings next to single-family neighborhoods would be the project’s lowest, Councilman Mark Wigder and others blanched at the project’s density.
Namdar representatives also talked much more about the company’s history in the Caribbean and New Jersey than they did about Boca Raton. Another problem is Namdar’s proposed arts center. Who would operate that? The city certainly wouldn’t want to.
Fran Nachlas pointed out that because the company seemed willing to change so many elements of its proposal, the city didn’t get Namdar’s “best and final offer.” Namdar, Nachlas said, “really should have talked to us” before procurement rules prohibited such discussions.
Related Ross
Company representatives clearly had spent lots of time with council members. That extends to Founder Steve Ross, who owns the Miami Dolphins. Jordan Bargas, senior vice president of development, introduced Ross on Monday by saying, “He needs no introduction.”
Ross, Bargas and others touted the company’s reputation. “Our plan is totally different,” Ross said. “We deal with the biggest corporations.” He added, “We see this city becoming the next Silicon Valley” and Boca Raton becoming like Palo Alto, the California city in the heart of Silicon Valley.
That comparison speaks to the outlier in the Related Ross proposal. The company would build nearly 1 million square feet office space – four times that of Terra/Frisbie, the next highest. Bargas predicted that most tenants would be new to the market, as Related Ross has found with its office buildings in West Palm Beach as the city has drawn financial firms from the Northeast.
RocaPoint
When Phil Mays, a principal of RocaPoint Partners, finished his presentation, Singer asked if his colleagues had any questions. None did.
Though Singer and others eventually did pose questions, that initial lack of response indicated that Mays had lost the room. He spent most of his time talking about company projects outside of South Florida and planning concepts in general. Only later did he discuss Boca Raton specifically.
Mays stressed the public space and said several times that he could be “flexible,” based on the council’s wishes. He said RocaPoint even could build the public space and work with another developer on everything else.” Nachlas said Mays gave the council “something to think about.”
I don’t think that council members will do much thinking. My sense is that this is now a competition between Terra/Frisbie and Related Ross. I’ll have more as the ranking date nears.
Delray Brightline collision spurs further investigations
More investigations have arisen from the Dec. 28 collision involving a Brightline train and a Delray Beach fire ladder truck.
The city announced last week that the police department will conduct an “internal review” of how it handled a June 2023 crash involving David Wyatt. He was driving the ladder truck that had gone around the crossing gate at Southeast First Street and was struck by the train. The truck was responding to a call about a fire downtown.
According to the city, Wyatt’s vehicle “struck multiple traffic signs before colliding with a tree in the center median” at Swinton and Atlantic avenues. A witness, “identified as a friend of Wyatt, stated that he had been driving behind the Jeep when Wyatt suddenly lost control and veered over the median.”
A police officer “conducted a DUI investigation at the hospital, where Wyatt exhibited red eyes and a head laceration but displayed no slurred speech. Due to Wyatt’s medical condition and the unavailability of roadside sobriety tests, officers could not establish probable cause for a DUI charge.” Wyatt was charged with careless driving, a civil violation, rather than reckless driving, which is a criminal offense.
I’m told that the incident came to the city’s attention about three weeks ago. “We are reviewing this case thoroughly,” Police Chief Russ Mager said, “to ensure protocols were followed and no procedural errors occurred in determining the appropriate legal course of action.” One reasonably can assume that Mager wants to find out whether Wyatt got special treatment from a fellow first responder.
Meanwhile, the city has brought in a Tampa-based law firm, Johnson Jackson, to examine operations and policies at the fire department. These two probes—one of the collision and another of driver’s license statuses of employees—are separate from investigations of the collision by the Federal Railway Administration, the National Traffic Safety Board, the sheriff’s office and Brightline.
According to the city, Johnson Jackson will look at “job descriptions, collective bargaining agreements, policies, procedures, general orders, and statutes.” The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that 10 department employees have had their licenses suspended. Wyatt’s license was suspended after that June 2023 collision and restored in December of that year. City Commissioner Rob Long told me that there were no suspensions at the time of the collision.
According to court records, Wyatt was cited for five other civil traffic violations since 2004. The Sun Sentinel reported that the suspension was not in Wyatt’s department file. He got strong performance reviews.
Neither Mayor Tom Carney nor City Manager Terrence Moore is estimating a completion time for Johnson Jackson’s work. Moore told me Monday that they will wait for the reports and “take appropriate actions.”
Boca City Council seeks improvements to Mizner Park Amphitheater
City council members said Monday that they want staff to propose improvements for the Mizner Park Amphitheater.
Meeting as the community redevelopment agency, which oversees downtown, the council heard City Manager George Brown say that the city will “take a serious look” at renovating the popular venue. This can happen now because city officials know that there won’t be a performing arts center next door.
Brown said the city would hire a consultant to advise the city on bringing the amphitheater “up to state-of-the-art” standards. Questions, Brown said, include whether to install a roof and, if so, whether to make it retractable, and whether to change the backstage area. “Are these facilities attractive?”
Singer said the goal should be “something modest,” in the seven-figure area. Brown agreed that the goal is to make the facility, which the city operates, “functional.” Discussion is starting now so that the money could be in next year’s budget.
Remembering Vera Farrington
Vera Farrington, who founded Delray Beach’s Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, died Jan. 12 at 95.
Ms. Farrington also started the group Expanding & Preserving Our Cultural Heritage (EPOCH), which was her vehicle for creating the museum. Its home was once the home of Solomon Spady. As the museum’s website notes, Spady was the third Black principal/teacher assigned to Delray Beach.
Ms. Farrington was an educator for nearly four decades and a prolific community activist. Among the groups to honor her were the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce, the Historical Society of Palm Beach County, Palm Beach State College and the March of Dimes. As a board member of Planned Parenthood of Palm Beach County, she organized chapters in Delray Beach and Boca Raton.
Fittingly, Ms. Farrington’s daughter, Charlene Farrington, is executive director of the museum. History will remember Vera Farrington as one of Delray Beach’s greatest residents.
