Boca’s in for a bigger boom

Hundreds more condominium units could be coming to downtown Boca Raton, as a developer fine-tunes a proposal for three high-rises.

A developer intent on building three high-rises during downtown Boca’s building boom has revised its proposal in an attempt to answer complaints.

The company behind Mizner 200 — Coral Springs-based El-ad National Properties LLC — is one of two developers to unveil fine-tuned plans to add hundreds of condos in Boca Raton, drawing closer to making them a reality.

Under the latest plan, three buildings at Mizner 200 would rise nine stories to offer 384 high-end condos. More than 600 parking spaces would span across the 9-acre property. The sidewalks would be wider, too, making them more appealing to pedestrians.

“It is a great improvement to what exists there today,” said Marisela Catilla, a resident of Royal Palm Place, a community just around the corner from the Mizner 200 parcel.

Mizner 200, at 200 SE Mizner Blvd., would be one of several sites to go under construction downtown. At least seven other high-rises have moved into the downtown in recent years, and a few others are waiting to break ground as part of the recent growth spurt. Among the ones in the pipeline so far: Tower 155, a 170-unit apartment building that broke ground in November and is expected to be completed in fall 2018.

Mandarin Oriental, a 12-story, 164-room hotel expected to break ground later this year.

Residences at Mandarin Oriental, a 12-story, 85-unit apartment also expected to break ground later this year.

Like many of the downtown development projects, debate over Mizner 200 has largely focused on traffic and the project’s size. El-ad National Properties proposed the first design iteration in 2014.

Mizner 200 had started off as “New Mizner on the Green,” which originally called for 500 condos in four towers that reached heights between 23 and 30 stories. That met swift ire from residents who objected to the buildings’ size.

Since then, the project has undergone changes while still drawing attention because of its size — the three nine-story buildings would be spread across the length of three football fields.

“There doesn’t seem to be an overall theme of how we want to present the city,” said resident Jon Zion, who opposed the project at a city meeting Thursday. “It just looks like we’re throwing these things up rapidly.”

“Figure the Queen Mary [the retired ocean liner] placed next to your apartment and that’s what it looks like to us,” said resident Madeleine Siegel, who lives adjacent to the site where the project is proposed.

But a city zoning board backed the Mizner 200 project Thursday night, getting it closer toward final approval from the city. Catilla, on the other hand, said it was a vast improvement. “I think this is a beautiful project,” Catilla said.

The development would uproot the existing Mizner on the Green, which has 246 townhomes spread throughout 18 three-story buildings. It’ll be up to the City Council to consider it for final approval this year.

Jorge Garcia, CEO of the architecture firm GarciaStromberg, which designed Mizner 200, said the high-end condos and retail space will fit well in Boca.

“It’s going to fulfill a community need, an urban need and a social need,” Garcia said. “It’s really, really high-end, which is what Boca is all about, and I think this property is made-to-order for that.”

The other newly updated project is Camino Square, which calls for 350 apartments, retail space and small park areas. No details for building heights have been released, but the proposal would include a parking garage at the site, which is at 171 W. Camino Real.

Michael Marshall, a lawyer representing Kimco Realty, which owns the land, said Camino Square’s developers are still working on designs and expect to start the approval process with the city this summer.

Thirty years ago, the city of Boca set an 8 million-square-foot redevelopment goal for the downtown. In March, Boca Mayor Susan Haynie said the goal is about 83 percent completed and Mizner 200 and Camino Square would bring that near 100 percent.

If the two projects break ground and the downtown goal is fulfilled, landowners still would be eligible to redevelop downtown properties, but the process would be more difficult.

That’s because new projects no longer would be governed by a city law that fast-tracks downtown projects by letting them bypass a requirement for traffic studies.

Known as Ordinance 4035, the move was approved by voters in 1992 to jump-start downtown redevelopment. It sets specifications, such as building heights, architectural style, parking and landscaping, for downtown construction.

When downtown Boca does hit its 8 millionsquare-foot redevelopment goal, “that’s going to be the end of what was approved by the voters when they approved the redevelopment of downtown,” said Councilman Robert Weinroth.