Andrea Virgin, chief executive of The Center for Arts and Innovation, listens with (l-r) Brian Hickey, the group’s attorney; Derek Bellin, its development officer; and board member Glenn Kaufman on Nov. 4 as the City Council considers ending a deal to lease land at Mizner Park for a new performing arts center. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Mary Hladky
The Center for Arts and Innovation officials have proposed changes to a development agreement with Boca Raton that substantially push back their fundraising deadlines for the Mizner Park project.
City officials were reviewing the proposal, delivered to them on Nov. 25, and did not comment on it before The Coastal Star’s deadline. Mayor Scott Singer and Deputy Mayor
Yvette Drucker also did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.
The proposal comes after TCAI chief executive Andrea Virgin stunned and angered City Council members on Oct. 21 when she told them that her group had fallen far short of meeting city-imposed fundraising requirements. She had not given them a heads-up until shortly before the meeting.
TCAI met its fundraising targets in 2023, but needed to raise a total of $50.8 million by this year. Donations, however, totaled only $32 million.
The revelation imperiled city support for the ambitious cultural arts center planned for Mizner Park. The council could have terminated the 2022 project development agreement and the lease of city land in Mizner Park to TCAI.
But shortly thereafter, the council moved back from the brink, giving TCAI officials until Jan. 7 to come up with a revised fundraising schedule that the city could accept. The council was scheduled to discuss it at a Jan. 13 meeting.
Due to the holidays, council members, who consider the TCAI project as Community Redevelopment Agency commissioners, meet only once before then, on Dec. 9.
It was not clear if they might take this up on Dec. 9, or how they will react to TCAI’s proposal since they had rejected renegotiating the development agreement in October.
“The proposed updates reflect lessons learned over the past two years and present an opportunity to better align the agreement with the needs of the city, the center and the transformative vision we are building together,” Virgin said in a letter that accompanied her proposal.
The development and construction timeline TCAI submitted shows groundbreaking in late 2028 or early 2029. The center would open in 2032, which meets the city’s 2033 deadline.
Virgin had originally aspired to opening it during the city’s 2025 centennial year, but has pushed the date back several times. Last summer, she said opening would be in 2030.
The proposal said that the project’s final design and budget would be in place by August 2026. Council members in October were insistent that they wanted to know the total project cost immediately, but then relented to give Virgin several more months to provide it.
The city and TCAI had agreed to use a cost index that compares the cost of a construction project in a specific city to the national average in order to create an estimate of the minimum TCAI project cost.
This year, the estimate is $101.6 million. But that amount is certain to increase once TCAI provides the city with a firm budget. Until that happens, the total of $50.8 million that TCAI needed to raise this year is 50% of the estimated minimum cost.
Under the proposed framework Virgin submitted, she would have more time to raise money from donors.
She would have to raise 40% of the project’s cost by 2028. When that is achieved, she wants the city to give TCAI a building permit. She would have 100% of the project’s cost by 2032 so that the city would issue a certificate of occupancy.
Responding to complaints by council members and City Manager George Brown that she had withheld information about fundraising shortfalls and had not been transparent, Virgin is proposing to brief city officials annually on her progress. She also said she would provide the city with audited financial statements annually and unaudited statements twice a year.
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