Boca Raton council reviews revised '1 Boca' campus plan and sets schedule for March referendum

Boca Raton — At a Nov. 17 workshop, city staff and developer representatives outlined a revised government campus proposal dubbed the “1 Boca” plan and described the steps the City Council would take to put referendum language before voters in March 2026.

Deputy city manager Mr. Lukasik summarized the procurement and outreach timeline, saying the city received unsolicited proposals in October 2024, released an offering memorandum in December, selected the Terra Frisbie team after February presentations and entered an interim agreement in March that was extended to May 2026 to accommodate more public engagement. He told the council the key calendar milestones are Dec. 2 for ballot language preview, Planning & Zoning on Dec. 18 for lease recommendations, council hearings on Jan. 6 and Jan. 20 for the master partnership agreement and ground leases, and a voter referendum on March 10, 2026.

Rob Frisbie, a representative of the 1 Boca development team, said the current master concept reduces private development from roughly 1.6 million square feet to about 1.1 million, moves private buildings east of Northwest 2nd Avenue and increases Memorial Park green space from about 7.6 acres to more than 15 acres. “This proposal will generate generational benefits to the city, allowing the city to accelerate the investment in green space, civic buildings, and world‑class amenities,” Frisbie said.

Staff described planned public facilities for the west side of the site that would be funded or constructed as part of the partnership. Mr. Lukasik said the plan includes a police and fire rescue substation with front‑facing services and small response vehicles, a roughly 30,000–35,000‑square‑foot community center with multipurpose rooms and potential ground‑floor food and beverage uses, a 10‑court tennis facility, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, playgrounds and a flexible civic green. He emphasized that detailed design and program decisions will come after further public engagement.

CBRE financial consultant Mike Machey told the council the city would receive a mix of revenue streams from a 99‑year ground lease: a minimum base rent tied to fair market value, percentage rent based on gross revenues, participation in developer upside (described as 10% of profit above an 8–10% yield), and a 1% transfer fee on future sales of improvements on city‑leased land. On CBRE’s illustrative model, CBRE projected $1.9 billion in gross ground rent over 99 years (a present value of about $158 million using a 4.5% discount) and a discounted total proceeds estimate in the low hundreds of millions of dollars. CBRE representatives said they used conservative escalation rates and that PFM, the city’s independent financial advisor, has back‑checked their work and is preparing a more detailed analysis.

Leanne Course of CBRE presented planning‑level cost estimates for the west side public facilities; the slide deck listed approximately $198 million of west‑side hard and site costs and a separate line for open‑space and recreation (roughly $12.68 million on the slide). Staff said some items such as relocation of softball fields and a skate park are still being scoped; Lukasik estimated softball relocation would be on the order of $10–12 million.

City staff and the CBRE team told council members that detailed annual cash‑flow tables for years 1–99 exist and can be posted. CBRE said the 1% transfer fee would apply only to buildings situated on city‑leased land and would not apply to privately owned condominium parcels that are not on ground‑leased city property.

The council did not take formal action at the workshop. Staff said they will present ballot language and additional financial detail at upcoming meetings and that any master partnership agreement and leases would return to council for approval before any voter referendum.

What’s next: staff will present ballot language on Dec. 2 and a Planning & Zoning review is scheduled for Dec. 18; council hearings on the master partnership agreement are slated for Jan. 6 and Jan. 20, with a referendum currently scheduled for March 10, 2026.