Planning board recommends approval of Boca Residential Center amendments, including 21 added apartments and a conditioned public-access gym

The Planning and Zoning Board voted 7-0 on Sept. 4 to recommend City Council approve changes to the Boca Residential Center project at 6401–6481 Congress Avenue that would add 21 multifamily units, create a conditionally approved school use, and authorize a publicly available fitness facility on the Ground Floor.

Senior planner Heather Waldstein told the board the roughly 21.35-acre site would increase an approved multifamily building from 277 units to 298 units, with 10 percent (four units) reserved as affordable. The amendment also adds 24,852 square feet of floor area to the eight‑story residential building, raises the associated parking structure from six to seven levels to provide 45 additional parking spaces, and authorizes a 2,086-square-foot commercial fitness center on the Ground Floor. Waldstein said the existing office campus on the site contains 753 surface parking spaces and 1,389 garage spaces and that the CIMD and PMD criteria are met under staff review.

The applicant, attorney Ellie Zacharias, said the 21 added units are accommodated by converting previously approved double‑height lobby and other double‑height spaces to standard floor plates and filling several partial floors to create new units; she confirmed the building height remains at the previously approved 82 feet. Zacharias also said the…