Boca Raton CRA considers amendment to Royal Palm Place hotel approval as debate centers on parking and design

The City of Boca Raton Community Redevelopment Agency on Feb. 23 reviewed an amendment to the Royal Palm Place Hotel Individual Development Approval that would reduce the approved hotel from 144 rooms to 137, eliminate below‑grade parking and add a seven‑story parking garage with ground‑floor retail, prompting an extended discussion about parking counts, design and construction sequencing.

Susan Lesser, Senior Planner for the city’s Development Services Department, told the board the amendment reduces the previously approved hotel building square footage (from the previously stated ~167,360 sq ft figure to roughly 80,800 sq ft for the hotel portion), replaces a 24‑space public plaza with a 7‑story parking structure and modifies a range of uses across the approximately 15.4‑acre Royal Palm Place site in Downtown Sub Area D. Lesser said staff supports the applicant’s requested technical deviation to use a shared‑parking analysis that changes the required parking calculation and that the project overall provides more supply than existed on site under the old configuration.

Why the change? Ellie Zacharias, counsel for the applicant, said construction costs since the pandemic have made the originally approved below‑grade parking economically infeasible. "Construction costs have gone astronomical since COVID, making those 2 and a half levels of underground parking economically infeasible," Zacharias said, arguing the proposed standalone garage plus on‑hotel parking would meet operational needs while allowing more flexible tenant mix in retail spaces.

Key numbers from the record: the applicant proposes a 206,980‑square‑foot parking structure with 501 spaces and anticipates 205 hotel parking spaces on the hotel parcel, for a total of about 706 spaces across the hotel and garage. Staff recited the code requirement as 1,905 spaces under the current calculation and reported that the applicant’s alternate shared‑parking rates would provide 1,417 equivalent spaces under that analysis, a difference the applicant and staff characterized as a net reduction of 488 required spaces compared with the code calculation. The project also includes roughly 11,295 square feet of ground‑floor restaurant and retail and an increase of approximately 7,000 square feet of open space compared with the previously approved plan, according to staff.

Commissioners probed specifics about parking removals and circulation. The applicant estimated that about 116 service parking spaces and several parallel spaces would be removed as part of reconfiguration, that the triangular lot would be reconfigured to about 101 spaces, and that some existing nonconforming parking would be eliminated. The development services director told the board the approval will include a condition requiring the parking structure to be started before hotel construction, to ensure parking capacity is available when the hotel is occupied.

Public comment was strongly mixed on character and design. Richard Warner, a resident, told the board the project "will continue the pattern of destroying what charm Boca used to have" and questioned the need for another downtown hotel. Other speakers urged the council to preserve the Meisner‑style character of downtown, called for clearer disclosure of who lawyers and representatives were speaking for, and criticized the modern look of the proposed garage. Supporters and several commissioners, including Commissioner Drucker, countered that the hotel was previously approved in 2022 and that the amendment addresses practical issues—particularly parking and construction feasibility—and can provide additional retail and open‑space improvements.

Applicant counsel also presented a construction sequencing plan intended to limit disruption: reconfigure the triangular lot and complete drainage work in an initial phase, build the parking structure next (tilt construction expected to take about 12 months), and then build the hotel (estimated 18 months). The applicant said the sequencing and condition requiring the parking structure to be initiated first would minimize impacts on existing businesses.

After presentations, public comment and discussion, a motion was made to adopt resolution CRP002R7 as amended. The transcript records that a motion and a second were entered (motion to adopt CRP002R7 as amended) and that the item was discussed, but the roll‑call vote tally for adoption is not recorded in the provided transcript.

What happens next: the CRA moved on to additional reports and adjourned at 3:40 p.m., with a workshop to follow. If the board finalizes the amendment, the project will proceed under the modified IDA terms, with the sequencing and any conditions adopted by the agency governing construction phasing and permit issuance.

Why it matters: the amendment touches on downtown planning priorities—parking, walkability, design and the balance of retail and hospitality uses—and residents framed the hearing as part of a broader debate about whether downtown Boca Raton should evolve toward a denser, more urban character or preserve its earlier scale and architectural identity.

Note on sources and limits: article details (room counts, square‑footage figures, parking calculations and sequence commitments) are drawn directly from the staff presentation, applicant statements and public comments in the Feb. 23 CRA public hearing transcript. The transcript shows a motion to adopt the resolution but does not include a complete roll‑call vote in the text provided; the article does not assume a final adopted outcome beyond the recorded motion.