Developer of rejected $75M senior living facility: City discriminated against elderly
Group P6 wants court to overturn Boca’s decision.
BOCA RATON — The developer behind a rebuffed $75 million resort-style senior living facility in downtown Boca Raton is battling the city in court for approval to build.
Group P6, the developer behind The Concierge senior living facility, claims in a petition to Palm Beach County Circuit Court that Boca Raton officials rejected the project without cause and discriminated against a protected class — the elderly — in doing so.
A petition for writ of certiorari, asking the circuit court to overturn Boca’s decision, was filed last week.
The developer takes aim not only at Boca Raton’s rejection of The Concierge, a 129-bed assisted, independent and memory care facility, but at the “lengthy, time-consuming and expensive” process of securing any development approvals in the city.
Group P6 and landowner Robert Buehl spent two years and thousands of dollars on architectural renderings, consultants and attorney fees only to be rejected at the last step, according to the petition.
“It is not uncommon for an applicant to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in the planning and entitlement stages of a development similar to (The Concierge),” the petition reads.
The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency rejected the project, proposed at Southeast Sixth Street between Dixie Highway and Federal Highway, in July, saying it lacked adequate parking and would place a strain on emergency services.
The petition claims city officials denied the request without just cause, using emergency services as a “red herring” to discriminate against the elderly residents, the complaint reads.
The lawsuit cites comments made by councilwomen Andrea O’Rourke and Monica Mayotte. During the July meeting, O’Rourke, who chairs the CRA board, said the project may not be an appropriate use given the city’s “vision for the downtown.”
The residents of The Concierge would be elderly people. The petition claimed ageism shrouded the process.
O’Rourke declined to comment on the specifics of the petition, but said her “main concern was parking” when she voted against The Concierge.
Group P6 requested a waiver to have fewer parking spaces at the senior living complex than city code demands. City code doesn’t distinguish between senior living facilities and average residences with three or more bedrooms per unit. For that reason, the project required at least 93 parking spots. But seniors wouldn’t require so many spots, Group P6 argued in its application.
City staff agreed, and recommended that the city’s CRA approve the plans.
On the comment that a senior living facility would increase the demand for fire rescue services, Group P6 said in its petition that the burden is on city officials to handle that. EMS services are provided by the city using taxpayer dollars.
If the city can’t handle the EMS demand, the petition reads, the city needs to increase its taxes or reallocate its money.
While Group P6 filed the petition to reverse the city’s rejection, Buehl, the landowner, sent a news release last week announcing an intention to file a high-dollar lawsuit against the city over the rejection.
Buehl hasn’t yet filed a complaint, but said in the release he will seek between $50 million and $100 million in damages against the city for violating the state’s Bert Harris Act, which protects the rights of landowners.
Group P6 and Buehl pitched The Concierge as a nine-story, 130,000-squarefoot facility with an underground parking garage that would pay $1.4 million in taxes annually without adding children to Boca Raton’s already crowded schools.
The senior living complex would include a salon, cafe, 35-seat theater, restaurants, a rooftop pool and other amenities.