Boca plan for ex-Wildflower site advances

BOCARATON— If you look past the cranes, scaffolding and other markers of a building boom downtown, you’ll see 2.27 acres of vacant land along Boca’s waterfront.

Once the site of a buzzing club known as the Wildflower in the 1980s, the lot has been abandoned and silent for more than a decade.

People have been debating what to do with the property at 551E. Palmetto Park Road since the city purchased it for $7.5 million in 2009. Andfor years, the city has been in negotiations with Hillstone Restaurant Group to lease the property for a waterfront restaurant.

Notwithstanding some residents’ push for the property to be a public park, the city thisweek announced it has reached consensus with Hillstone on the terms of a proposed lease. The City Council will hold a public hearing in July and decide whether downtown will get its first water front restaurant.

“We’ve been trying to get to this point for four years,” said Glenn Viers, vice president of Hillstone Restaurant Group. “We’re pleased to see the horizon in the distance.”

Under the proposed lease, Hillstone would pay the city $600,000 per year to lease the land with 5 percent increases every five years. Property taxes would be the city’s responsibility.

The 7,000-square-foot restaurant would be called Hillstone. Viers said the company hopes to build an architecturally significant structure that can serve as an oasis for Boca residents.

“We have a special piece of property here, and I think we can do something spectacular,” Viers said.

Missing from Hillstone’s proposal is a dock — one of the main items residents wanted at the site. Viers said it would be up to the city to install a dock provided that it does not obstruct patron views of the Intracoastal.

Troy McLellan, president of the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce, commended the City Council for proceeding with plans to lease the property for commercial use.

“The development of the Wildflower property has been a top priority on the chamber’s legislative agenda for a number of years,” he told the council during a public meeting Tuesday. “We look forward to you moving forward with developing a restaurant, being fiscally responsible with that property.”

In order for the proposal to advance the City Council would need to take several actions, including approving landuse and zoning changes and signing off on the site plan.

The city’s planning and zoning board will review the proposal during a public hearing June 9. The City Council will introduce the proposal at its June14 meeting, then hold a final hearing July 26. All three meetings will begin at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, located at 201W. Palmetto Park Road.

Meanwhile, residents are circulating a petition to put the question ofwhat do to with Boca’s waterfront properties up for a public vote.

Creators of the petition want to put a referendum on the August ballot that would ask residents whether “all city-owned land adjacent to the Intracoastal waterway shall be used for public recreation, public boating access, public streets and stormwater uses only.”

“Let the residents decide: do we want a park or a restaurant?” Boca resident James Hendrey said. “Citizen should be given the option.”

emiller@sun-sentinel.com, 561-243-6531, Twitter @EmilyBethMiller