Boca Raton council adopts downtown redevelopment agreement, sends package to March 10 referendum

Boca Raton’s City Council voted 4–1 on Jan. 20 to adopt ordinance 57‑69, approving a master partnership agreement (MPA), a development management and construction agreement, and a 99‑year ground lease with the private partner Terra Frisbee for a mixed‑use downtown government campus. Council members Nattlis, Drucker, Victor and Mayor Singer voted yes; Councilmember Thompson voted no. The package now goes to voters in a referendum on March 10, 2026.

The agreements define a two‑phase redevelopment centered east of NW 2nd Avenue and establish how the private partner would design, build and operate a mixed‑use project while the city and the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) retain fee ownership of the land. City staff and the city attorney repeatedly told the council that no lease commencement, construction or possession can occur until the referendum is approved and all required regulatory and financing conditions are met. “It is not a green light by itself,” City Attorney Koehler said of the MPA, underscoring that financing, vertical permits and council approvals are prerequisites.

City presentations highlighted the financial structure: consultant PFM and CBRE provided updated analyses that factor construction rent, percentage rent (a share of gross project revenue), transfer fees and operating revenue…