Boca Raton planning board unanimously recommends council consider 99‑year lease for 7.8‑acre downtown campus

BOCA RATON, Fla. — The Boca Raton Planning & Zoning Board on Dec. 18 voted 7–0 to recommend that the City Council consider conveying a 99‑year leasehold interest in about 7.8 acres east of Northwest 2nd Avenue for a proposed downtown government campus public‑private partnership.

Deputy City Manager Andy Lukaszek told the board the leases and a related master partnership agreement (MPA) are intended to implement a mixed‑use, transit‑oriented redevelopment adjacent to the Bright Line station. "You're here this evening to talk about the Downtown Government Campus project," Lukaszek said, describing a program that staff said would include about 947 residential units (182 condos not subject to the lease and roughly 708 rental units on city property, 77 of which would be workforce housing), roughly 120,000 square feet of office, about 79,100 square feet of retail and commercial, a 180‑key hotel and a 30,000‑square‑foot grocery.

Brandon Chad, the city's development services director, reviewed the regulatory path should the council move forward: small‑scale comprehensive plan amendments to bring parcels into the Central Business District…