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Developer unveils scaled‑back downtown government campus; residents press to protect Memorial Park
Summary
Rob Frisbie of the 1 Boca team presented a revised plan that keeps all land west of NW 2nd Avenue in public hands, reduces leasable acreage from 31 to under 8 acres and doubles parkland, but residents and petition organizers urged the council to put protections before voters and questioned long‑term lease and revenue assumptions.
Rob Frisbie, representing the 1 Boca development team, presented a substantially revised concept for the proposed downtown government campus at the Boca Raton City Council workshop on Oct. 27.
Frisbie said the new proposal keeps "100% city owned and dedicated to public, civic, and recreational uses" west of NW 2nd Avenue and reduces the leasable area to ‘‘less than 8 acres’’ east of 2nd Avenue, focusing private development on underused parking lots and defunct buildings near the Brightline station. He said the revised plan would double public recreational space from about 7.6 acres to roughly 15.4 acres and add a pedestrian‑only retail promenade linking Palmetto to the Bridal/Brightline station.
The developer described program elements that include about 769 rental units, a 186‑unit condominium building on private property, an approximately 180‑key hotel, and a 150,000‑square‑foot office building adjacent to the Brightline station; several buildings would reach a maximum height of roughly 140 feet. Frisbie said the plan would be phased so that initial projects include the Brightline‑adjacent office, the hotel and several residential buildings, with later work dependent on relocation of the police station.
Frisbie also offered high‑level financial projections and said staff and the developer are moving to produce detailed numbers. "What we're looking at right now is revenue projections in excess of $2,000,000,000 in gross, revenues in excess of $200,000,000 in NPV," he told the council and public, while acknowledging a more formal program of costs and revenues would be presented at a subsequent meeting.
Council members pressed staff and the developer on key fiscal assumptions, including the logic of long‑term (99‑year) ground leases, net present value calculations and how percentage rents and property taxes would be treated. City staff said the city is working with an independent third‑party financial advisor and will present both shorter and longer horizon analyses to increase certainty.
Public reaction during the council meeting was strongly critical. Multiple speakers urged that Memorial Park remain protected, questioned the need for a public‑private partnership for amenities the city could build itself, and raised concerns about traffic, environmental impacts, flood risk and the length of proposed lease terms. "You saved Memorial Park," said John Perlman, a leader of the Save Boca group, praising petition signers and urging citizen oversight.
The council also discussed process and timing: staff said two resolutions on the agenda for the next meeting (previously drafted for a March date) could be revised to request that the supervisor of elections place petition questions on a Jan. 13 special election ballot if the council approves updated language tomorrow night. The supervisor had invited cities to "piggyback" on that ballot; the city attorney said the clerk and manager would coordinate the administrative details.
What happens next: Frisbie said the team and city staff will provide more detailed financial analysis, traffic information and programmatic materials at the next meeting. The council scheduled further outreach and review; formal decisions on any development, leases or referendum language had not been taken at the workshop.
