Council to consider interim master plan for downtown government campus after developer trims housing and adds public space

Boca Raton City Council will consider approving an interim master plan for the downtown government campus at its meeting tomorrow after staff and the Terra/Frisbie Group presented a recap and updates at a June 9 workshop.

The interim master plan approval being asked of the council is limited in scope to the general organization of uses and the proposed development intensities and densities, Deputy City Manager Lukasik said during the workshop. Representatives for the Terra/Frisbie Group presented a revised concept that reduces residential buildings, increases office square footage and expands public recreational space.

The plan presented on June 9 removes three residential buildings and lowers residential density by “over 200 units,” Rob Frisbie said, and increases public recreational space by slightly more than 20 percent by aggregating green space in the site center between the proposed city hall and community center. Frisbie said the design also narrows several streets, adds buffers between bike lanes and vehicle traffic, and widens crosswalks to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety.

Planned civic and recreational changes discussed include maintaining a civic campus with a new city hall and a flexible community center; relocating softball fields to Sugar Sand Park with a four-field plan; options for tennis that staff said had an earlier consensus of six clay courts at Meadows Park and four downtown but had received feedback favoring eight at Meadows and two downtown; relocation of the skate park and pump track to the east side of North Park; and planned relocation of some historic structures such as Singing Pines. Frisbie said the project would improve connectivity to the Brightline station and that the developer had committed $10,000,000 toward pedestrian connections.

Deputy City Manager Lukasik told the council the city entered an interim agreement with Terra/Frisbie in March and that the interim master plan is intended to provide the developer financial certainty for feasibility work. Staff said approval of this interim document does not finalize detailed site studies; regulatory analyses such as traffic, off-site improvements and level-of-service studies will follow later in the entitlement process. The city anticipates approval of a final master plan and master partnership agreement in October, Lukasik said.

Several members of the public urged the council to protect specific recreational and historic resources. Applicant and public speaker John Perlman urged preservation of the Children’s Museum (which he described as the oldest building in Boca Raton), the Boca Raton Tennis Center and the Tim Huxhold Skate Park. Perlman also asked that financial negotiations and any appraisal related to potential condominium sales be posted to the city website. Deputy City Manager Lukasik and City Manager Brown responded that the financial terms proposed by the Terra/Frisbie Group were posted to the city website on Oct. 24, 2024, and that some working documents remain in flux and are not ready for public posting.

Other public commenters pressed for a robust tennis program on or off-site and for clearer information about ground-lease financials; a commenter also criticized the consultant selection and representation on local real estate matters.

Staff and the developer emphasized the interim approval being requested is narrow — limited to uses, intensities and densities — and that subsequent regulatory reviews, traffic and infrastructure studies, and detailed financial negotiations would follow. Several council members said they support keeping options open for later phases and anchoring the project to existing downtown transit and amenities.

The council will consider approval of the interim master plan at its regular meeting tomorrow. If approved, staff said final design, regulatory review and the master partnership agreement would continue through the summer with the goal of finalizing the master plan and partnership agreement by October.