Tri-Rail station plans halted

A second Tri-Rail station in Boca Raton was derailed after a recent court ruling dismissed a lawsuit over the potential site at Midtown Boca, a rejected development of condos, shops and restaurants.

Boca’s existing Tri-Rail station at 680 Yamato Road is the busiest on the route from West Palm Beach to Miami, with roughly 1,000 riders on weekdays. Adding another makes sense for the area, officials thought.

But the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority set aside plans for the new station once it was clear the mammoth development wasn’t going to be built.

“It would be on hold indefinitely, especially based on this court decision,” the authority’s executive director Steven Abrams said.

Boca agreed to postpone the plans until further notice. In a letter June 21 to the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency, Assistant City Manager Michael J. Woika wrote: “While the City still believes that this is an important and necessary transportation project, and is looking forward to the completion of this project in the future, the City joins the SFRTA in requesting a deferral of this project at this time.”

SFRTA will use the $8.5 million for the new station to extend its scope up beyond West Palm Beach into Jupiter, Abrams said.

The higher-speed rail service Brightline plans to build a station in Boca’s downtown by 2020. Currently rebranding as Virgin Trains USA, it has stations in West Palm Beach, Fort

Lauderdale and Miami. Another station is under consideration in Hollywood.

Midtown Boca could have brought an additional Tri-Rail station and up to 2,500 new condos or apartments near the Town Center mall. The area is roughly framed by the Town Center mall to the west, Glades Road to the north, Interstate 95 to the east and Verde Trail to the south.

The proposal envisioned a “live-work-play” center with residences, shops and restaurants that would connect the Town Center with the new TriRail station that would have gone up in the site of the old King’s Gourmet Deli by 2023.

Crocker Partners planned to develop the area as a whole, not project by project, and asked for development rights that the city wouldn’t agree to.

Crocker Partners gave up its role as lead developer of Midtown a little more than a year ago and sued for damages, seeking $137 million.

A Palm Beach County circuit judge granted the city’s motion to dismiss the suit Friday.

Crocker Partners, which developed Mizner Park, said it plans to appeal.

“We’ve helped shape Boca,” said Angelo Bianco, managing partner of Crocker Partners. “We want to continue growing the city in healthy ways that keep it competitive and strong, and in the ways people and businesses want to go.”