BOCA RATON, Fla. — During Tuesday’s city council meeting, One Boca developers shared new plans for Boca’s downtown campus after several months of community pushback.
This is the third version of the project and while a group of people were satisfied with the changes, many are still fighting against it altogether.
“We’re so grateful for all of the community input that we’ve received. We’ve genuinely tried to incorporate everyone’s ideas to create a place we all could be proud of,” said Rob Frisbie Jr.
Developers presented renderings including more green space, doubling recreation space from 7.6 to 15.4 acres, and shrinking leased land from 31 to 8 acres.
“Aging infrastructure doesn’t preserve our heritage. It limits it. Redevelopment is how we honor our past and build a future that we need,” said resident Christina Broeker. “Let’s save Boca from Save Boca.”
Some said the new plan keeps Boca’s character but members with Save Boca and many others want the project scratched.
“All that glitters isn’t gold,” said Alex Pollock. “No matter how many different renderings we hear, no matter how many different proposals we see, the fundamental flaw with this entire plan is simply, why do we need to give away our public land to build apartments, condos and hotels?”
Some argue East Boca has been negatively impacted by development and they don’t want any private developers involved.
During the four-hour-long meeting, some city leaders also discussed two resolutions brought forth by the Save Boca citizen-led petitions.
“Our great citizens rose to the occasion,” said Jon Pearlman, founder of Save Boca. “You [residents] stepped in and did what the mayor and city council should have.”
While some city leaders were against the resolution language, they moved forward with placing an ordinance and charter amendment on the 2026 ballot that would call for a public vote for the sale/lease of any city-owned property larger than half an acre.
The resolutions would allow voters to decide the fate of the project on the January 13th special election.
Developers added the project has an estimated gross revenue of more than $3 billion. They will continue gathering feedback from the community.