Boca Raton staff recommend buying 6551 Park Of Commerce for city services; public questions price and CBRE role

City staff recommended the city acquire 6551 Park Of Commerce as a centralized hub for municipal services while the downtown government campus is redeveloped, arguing the combined approach—buying an existing office and building a smaller downtown city hall—would cost about half as much as constructing a full downtown facility.

"That scenario, the acquisition of 6551 Park Of Commerce combined with building the smaller city hall downtown is half of the cost of building everything downtown," CBRE Senior Vice President Will Portfolio told the council during a July 14 workshop.

The recommendation followed a market search that began in January and considered 15 properties. CBRE and city staff said they shortlisted five options and conducted tours of 10 properties; staff concluded 6551 required the least fit-out work and presented the most cost-effective solution for the city’s operational needs.

The presentation included high-level cost assumptions: staff carried a conservative $75 per square foot allowance for build-out and $50 per square foot for furniture; CBRE said comparable owner-occupier sales ranged roughly $228–$288 per square foot and that the city negotiated an asking price down from $19,000,000 to $17,400,000 for 6551.

Local owners and residents pressed staff after the presentation for more transparency about the negotiation. One speaker noted that 6601 Park Of Commerce—the adjacent corner building—sold in February 2025 for $14,000,000 and asked why the city appeared to be paying a premium for a landlocked lot next door.

"Why are you paying a premium on the same lot?" a local owner asked, requesting to see negotiation starting points and how the city arrived at $17.4 million. The speaker also raised a potential conflict concern because CBRE lists and manages substantial office inventory in North Boca and represents both tenants and landlords in the market.

Will Portfolio responded that the buyer of the 6601 corner building purchased it largely for a data center use, which limits the buyer pool and can depress comparable value for traditional office users. He said market dynamics and competing offers affected sale prices and that the city negotiated a lower price from the seller’s initial $19 million asking figure.

City Manager George Brown (addressing the council and the public) also explained related campus history: plans to replace the Building & Code Enforcement 'base building' predated the campus redevelopment, and the city continues to evaluate whether to relocate three structures commonly referred to in this discussion (the former children’s museum and two historic houses) or to keep them on the campus. Brown said the estimated cost to relocate those three structures is about $4.2 million and that staff is still evaluating which, if any, must be moved.

Council members asked follow-up questions about accessibility upgrades, parking, and how much fit-out 6551 would require; CBRE said 6551 would need ‘‘some improvements’’ including additional ADA-compliant restrooms but was the most efficient option toured. Council members also compared the hybrid acquisition-plus-smaller-downtown-hall scenario with an earlier rebuilding estimate of approximately $1,000 per square foot to reconstruct a full downtown city hall.

The council’s agenda the next night included contracting steps to proceed with due diligence on the 6551 purchase; city counsel said the purchase and sale agreement/PSA provides for due diligence steps and noted a prior development condition requiring parcel unification is part of that work.

Next steps: the council will consider contractual authorization for due diligence and potential purchase at the regular meeting scheduled the following evening.