Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Development Approval topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Planning board approves allowing existing Interstate Plaza façade to remain, removes planned walkway
Summary
The Planning & Zoning Board approved a conditional-use site plan amendment allowing the existing 1499 West Palmetto Park Road façade to remain and removing a previously approved covered walkway; board cited developer investment and market constraints in public comment and approved the amendment 6-0.
The City of Boca Raton Planning & Zoning Board unanimously approved a conditional-use site plan amendment to let the existing architectural façade on the 1499 West Palmetto Park Road building remain in lieu of previously approved elevations and to remove a covered walkway shown on earlier plans.
Planner Jacob Behrman told the board the project on roughly 4.98 acres at 1489 and 1499 West Palmetto Park Road requests a minor amendment limited to the 1499 building’s elevations and removal of the inter-building covered walkway; no landscaping or hardscaping changes were proposed. Staff concluded the modification met criteria for final action by the board.
Public speaker Ellie Zacharitis, representing the applicant/owner (Grover Curlew), described extensive recent work on the north building and said the owner has spent more than $30 million on improvements. Zacharitis said construction costs have risen sharply and noted that the window costs intended for the south building rose roughly 300 percent; she also said lenders are reluctant to finance office improvements at present, delaying when the south-building façade upgrades can be completed. “We certainly don’t want to be in a position… that we will be in violation of our loan because we have not completed,” she said, describing the financial constraints.
Board members disclosed ex parte communications with Zacharitis. Some members expressed disappointment that the south-building improvements are deferred, while others said that allowing the façades to differ is acceptable and that the buildings can read as separate architectural expressions. One board member noted a potential pedestrian connection stub aimed at a future Palmetto Park Square redevelopment.
A board member moved to approve the UC amendment and remove the covered walkway; the motion was seconded and carried on a 6-0 roll call. The approval lets the existing 1499 façade remain as built and removes the covered walkway from the approved plans; the applicant may return when market conditions permit to propose additional façade work.
