EVALUATION: The Government Campus Proposals.

As much as I dislike sitting for hours on uncomfortable chairs (Downtown City Chambers seating was much more comfortable) just to have 3 minutes for public comment, I know from experience that being there means picking up on the meeting’s vibe. If you were at last Monday’s City Council Workshop meeting where the Government Campus Proposals were presented, you could definitely tell the star-struck council members from the resident focussed ones. A friend said they looked like Michael Jordan had come to their High School basketball game. Unbeknownst to me, I was sitting behind a $10B billionaire. But I digress.

So, I went to the special 12:30pm Jan 27 City Council Workshop where the four responses to Boca’s Offering Memorandum for a new Government Campus were presented. Each proposal was given 30 minutes to present and the council had 30 minutes to question/discuss. Snore.

Evaluating the government campus proposals.

A great evaluation of the proposals came at this past Tuesday’s Federation of Boca Raton Homeowners Association meeting. In that meeting 40 year resident and Boca land use attorney Bonnie Miskel revealed how the project started and then presented her concise and clear comparison of her top three proposals:

1. Terra/Frisbie (aka Boca Raton City Center, LLC)
2. Namdar Group
3. Related Ross Group

As a resident advocate blog, we advocate for livability, walkability and whatnot. In this case, 40 year resident land use attorney Bonnie Miskel is one of us and gives the lowdown on the government campus proposals. She shared her own story of how as a Boca resident she once had to deal with losing quality of life through a bad development in her own neighborhood. But now that her residence and business are all in the downtown, Miskel wanted to get deep into each government campus proposal. So she did. And when she was done, she threw in with one of them (Terra/Frisbie). We’ve included her presentation at the end of this article here. According to Bonnie, she did the comparison before joining up with Terra/Frisbie and did the Tabular Data afterwards.

But now that her residence and business are all in the downtown, Miskel wanted to get deep into each government campus proposal. So she did. And when she was done, she threw in with one of them (Terra/Frisbie).

How did this latest Government Campus project get started?

According to Miskel, the current activity on the government campus project began last summer when the Related Ross Group owned by Stephen Ross approached the city about redeveloping the City Hall Campus/Library/Brightline area. This confirmed our questioning of some odd “fast track” activities. We wrote about it in our August 2024 article: The Sky Is Not Falling. Why is A New Boca Government Campus Fast-tracked?. Fortunately, what looked like a train already rolling down the tracks hit the brakes and an open process for alternative proposals was pursued.

Putting aside that such a huge undertaking as redeveloping our downtown community center, recreation facilties and parking lots into apartments and office buildings should be done with a referendum (as was done for Mizner Park, Ordinance 4035 and all our Intracoastal Parks), if we had to pick one “dance partner” for the project, the Terra/Frisbie proposal stands out to us as the least intense and with the most recreation/open space. See our sister article “The problem with Boca’s Government Campus” on the issue of no referendum. That said, there’s always things not to like such as 10-story apartments right up the sidewalk on Palmetto Park Rd in the Terra proposal and 25-story tower in the Related Ross proposal (for reference, the Boca Resort tower is 27).

But the Terra/Frisbie team came with enthusiasm, an aggressive interest in local knowledge and listening ears for resident input. They also brought a large 3D model of their proposal. They were the only ones.

Lack of connectivity.

But as is typical in Boca Raton, the proposals are an island to themselves with no city-wide master plan or master mobility plan in which to insert themselves. All proposals lacked mobility connectivity to the west to bring folks INTO the campus, ample space for pedestrian/bike access along Palmetto Park Road and there was no connectivity to the east to get folks OUT of the campus to the city core. And lastly, connectivity across Palmetto for access TO and FROM the downtown core and residentials in the oft ignored south side of Palmetto Park Rd. Below is a diagram of how we think it should connect at a minimum.

All mobility infrastructure should be separated from vehicle infrastructure through the use of curb raised bikeways, pedestrian bridges and trails. In particular the extension of the El Rio trail on city-owned property south of Glades should be done to connect the GC to FAU. The age old approach of tacking on a bike lane next to 4th or 2nd Ave is unsafe by design and a non-starter for a city that wants to be silver level bike friendly or fashions itself making progress against its unsafe 90’s era mobility infrastructure. Mayor Singer recently told the Sun Sentinel Boca “has taken many positive steps to ensure pedestrian and bicyclist safety by expanding our network of trails, implementing Vision Zero’ best practices and planning for a safer city through complete streets.” So let’s do it.

Boca has taken many positive steps to ensure pedestrian and bicyclist safety by expanding our network of trails, implementing Vision Zero’ best practices and planning for a safer city through complete streets.

Mayor Scott Singer

Open Space.

As open space downtown becomes a thing of the past with every project, so goes the vast public open space residents have enjoyed for decades. As Miskel points out regarding one of the more open space deficient proposals, you can’t just look at the total space”. That particular “dance partner’s” green space is really just a collection of small green plaza-like areas. She also told the crowd at the meeting that Terra/Frisbie was the only one that had multiple recreational options and that they started with the open space plan and then overlayed the buildings to be compatible.

Terra/Frisbie was the only one that had multiple recreational options and that they started with the open space plan and then overlayed the buildings to be compatible.

Bonnie Miskel (Terra/Frisbie)

As you look at the proposals below or attend Monday’s meeting and Tuesday’s ranking by City leaders, pay attention to who cares about open space, connectivity and quality of life vs buildings. Below are the objectives that proposals were supposed to meet:

The ball fields, open field, skateboard park, shuffleboard courts, playground, basketball court, children’s museum and 10 court tennis center are going away. City leaders will tell you they are looking to relocate the ball fields but as Asst. City Manager Andy Lukasik reported, they looked and can’t find a place so there is no plan. You will see tennis courts in some proposals but pay attention. They are sometimes up on rooftops and private. Look for public parking as well.

City leaders will tell you they are looking to relocate the ball fields but as Asst. City Manager Andy Lukasik reported, they looked and can’t find a place so there is no plan

As you look at the proposals, look for a skatepark for the kids, shuffleboard courts for community groups or public pickle ball courts and parking. Also look for medium to large open space to fly a kite, house a jungle gym or place to toss a frisbee. Again, Terra/Frisbie seems to have thought about this the most. Here’s the current recreation thats going away:

Miskel’s analysis of the submitted materials.

Here is Miskel’s comparison presentation. Things to take note of in her comparison:

• The open and green space in the proposals.
• The massive amount of “Non-Residential” units (office, hotel) in the Related Ross proposal vs the others
• The more office units there are, the more hotel units there are
• Traffic estimates as a measure of intensity

Comparison presented with permission: © 2025 Miskel Backman, LLP. All Rights Reserved.

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UPDATE: FEB 8 2025: Edited to include the better open space features of Terra/Frisbie