Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Boca Raton makes room for more final resting places
BOCA RATON — If you want to spend eternity in Boca Raton, there might be enough space now.
Work began on four new buildings at the Boca Raton Mausoleum this week: It’ll add to the mausoleum’s existing 26 buildings that are located on city-owned land, next to the city cemetery.
The new buildings will house 735 new crypts, which are spaces that hold caskets, and 329 niches, which are designed to hold cremated remains. The existing facilities are filling up, said Fritz Miner, the mausoleum manager.
There is demand: Fifty of the new accommodations were sold even before construction began, he said.
The new buildings for earthly remains means a few thousand more could find their rest here, adding to the facility that already holds the remains of some 15,000 others.
Those include some notables from the city’s past, such as James Caldwell, the founder of Rubbermaid Inc., and Milton Weir, who started the Boca Raton National Bank.
Unlike the city cemetery, where only city residents can be buried, the 47-year-old mausoleum is open to all.
Miner said he believes that a new generation will opt to rest for eternity in Boca, given how it comes with the guarantee that the city will maintain its striking rose and black marble in perpetuity.
Prices will range from $4,000 to $20,000, Miner said.
The highest-priced section
would put you side by side with your beloved in a crypt facing the gardens.
The lowest-price accommodations would mean a single crypt that faces the hedge.
There’s no chance that this will end up like some other final resting places in South Florida — moved or demolished, or left to fall into disrepair, he said.
“It’s got the backing of the city of Boca Raton for perpetual care,” Miner said.
The mausoleum is a private business in partnership with the city. And the city gets 16.5 percent of the mausoleum funds that come from each sale to maintain the grounds and keep the buildings in good repair into the future.
“I have two designated city workers whose only job is maintaining the mausoleum,” Miner said.
When the 15-acre cemetery and mausoleum grounds get completely sold out, the city’s reserves for the cemetery and mausoleum are meant to maintain the grounds and the building in perpetuity.
The city already has dipped into those reserves to keep things going, city documents show.
Miner is not the only one thinking that Boca will have continuing appeal as a final resting place into the future.
Former City Council member Robert Weinroth, now running against Boca Mayor Susan Haynie for a seat on the Palm Beach County Commission, is promoting the expansion on his Facebook page.
“It’s a beautiful facility, and I wouldn’t mind having my final resting place there,” he said. “Space in Boca Raton is always at a premium.”