By Mary Hladky
James and Marta Batmasian, the largest commercial property owners in Boca Raton’s downtown, have revised their proposal to build a 12-story hotel and retail project on Northeast Second Street immediately north of the Tower 155 condo.
The new submittal no longer states that the couple wants to buy a city-owned nearly 0.3-acre lot on Second Street that is now used as a parking lot. The first proposal would have replaced the parking with a Batmasian-built park.
The rest of the Mizner Plaza project just south of Mizner Park appears to be largely unchanged in the new submittal. Attorney Ele Zachariades, who represents the Batmasians, did not return calls requesting clarification on the changes.
The project would include two towers with retail and restaurants on the first two stories and hotel rooms in the top 10 stories. The number of rooms has decreased from 242 to 219.
Parking would be on two levels underground.
The Batmasian lot purchase was strongly criticized by Tower 155 owners at an Aug. 21 Planning and Zoning Board meeting that ended with the board’s near-unanimous recommendation that the City Council approve the project.
The owners’ attorney, Richard DeWitt, outlined what he said were several technical missteps by the city but focused on the sale of the parcel. He criticized the Batmasians for how little they wanted to pay for the land.
A staff memo on the subject said the land initially was appraised at $2.4 million. But the Batmasians wanted to pay nothing, saying they should get credit for replacing 17 public parking spaces now on the lot by moving them into the underground garage. They also wanted credits for park construction and maintenance costs.
Staff disagreed that they should get the land for free. After giving the Batmasians reduced credits for construction and maintenance, staff recommended a purchase price of $883,558.
But DeWitt said there was an earlier appraisal that pegged market value of the property at $3.3 million. James Batmasian balked at that amount and asked for a new appraisal.
Yet he also indicated that the city was only asking for $10 — essentially a giveaway. That’s when the city requested the second appraisal.
DeWitt asked the planning board to either deny approval of the sale or table the matter so the board could fully evaluate it. That would include whether only the Batmasians would be entitled to buy the parcel.
Board members did not acknowledge his request. But they praised the project, with a majority describing it as beautiful.
Now that the Batmasians have revised the project, the approval process will be started anew, which will delay consideration by the City Council.
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