VOTE411 Voter Guide

Ballot Language:Shall the City approve agreements with Boca Raton City Center, LLC leasing 7.8 acres of City property east of Northwest Second Avenue near Brightline Station, for 99 years, creating a walkable neighborhood with residential, retail, office, and hotel uses, generating rent and revenues to City for general uses and enhancements to City property, including:Preserving Memorial Park area, honoring veterans,Expanding public recreational and green spaces,New community center, City Hall, and police substation?SynopsisThis referendum seeks voter approval of a proposed public-private partnership between the City of Boca Raton and Boca Raton City Center, LLC (Terra and Frisbie Group) for a Government Campus master plan project.Discussions about a new downtown campus started around 2017. Designs were presented to the City Council, but the project didn’t move forward until 2024 when the City received two unsolicited proposals to redevelop the area and then solicited more proposals.Terra, of Coconut Grove, and Frisbie Group, of Palm Beach, won the bid over three other firms, and plan to build 1.15 million square feet of private development. Boca Raton City Center is the joint venture of Terra and Frisbie.The private part of the mixed-use development is planned to include many residential units, shops, restaurants, an office building and a 180-room hotel. Government facilities to be redeveloped include the City Hall, Building Administration building, the Community Center, ballfields, skatepark, shuffleboard, tennis center and Children’s Museum area. A police substation and parking garage would be added to the 7.8-acre property, which Terra and Frisbie would lease from the City. Several recreation features may be relocated.For the public spaces, current estimates say the City would pay $201 million and Terra and Frisbie would pay $46 million. The city’s financial consultant estimates Boca Raton would receive $3.39 billion in revenue over the 99 years, offset by operating expenses of $1.92 billion. Previously the consultant said the $1.47 billion difference has a net present value of about $138 million. That number, the project’s projected benefit, is now pegged at $175 million. Net present value is the amount after inflation and carrying costs.A grassroots residents’ group, Save Boca, persuaded the City Council to call a referendum on the redevelopment project, which began as 31 acres but then decreased to 7.8 acres. Separately, Terra and Frisbee would buy other private land nearby toward their part of the project. Save Boca had circulated a petition seeking to restrict the City’s ability to lease or sell parcels of City-owned land larger than a half-acre without voter approval. That is not part of this referendum, however, and a Jan. 13 special election on the petition issues was canceled after a judge ruled the Save Boca proposals unconstitutional. The Council passed a measure early this year requiring two public hearings and findings of a public benefit before such a property could be leased or sold.Yes - For the Measure Means:If voters approve the ballot measure, the City will begin efforts toward rezoning, site plan review and community engagement and planning for the Government Campus redevelopment project to move forward.No - Against the Measure Means:If voters reject the ballot measure, the Master Plan, ground lease and construction management agreement will be null and void, and the public-private redevelopment project will not move forward.Proponents: Boca Raton City CouncilOpponents: Save Boca