By Janis Fontaine
An appeal that would have prevented Boca Beach Chabad from securing a new home in an office building on East Palmetto Park Road has been dropped.
Boca Raton City Manager George Brown said the appeal was removed from the July 14 Community Redevelopment Agency meeting agenda and the prior approval now stands.
The approval allows the building at 490 E. Palmetto Park Road, just west of Silver Palm Park, to change from office to institutional use to accommodate a place of worship on the first floor. The amended request covers 3,718 square feet of the existing three-story, 30,895-square-foot building.
The religious center will be known as Boca Beach Jewish Center-Chabad, formerly at 120 NE First Ave. across the street from Sanborn Square, which the community had long ago outgrown.
The CRA, which oversees downtown development, said a major concern over the change in use was that it would bring a concentration of people and traffic to the property all at once, as opposed to a more staggered usage throughout the day that is associated with an office building. Other concerns were that the religious use would expand and cause issues with residential parking, especially during special events and around holidays.
But the city conducted an independent traffic study that showed the change in use would not result in an increase in the net number of people into and out of the building and that holding occasional special events would require a review and approval through the special event permit process already established by the city.
The new approval is scaled back from the original plan, which asked to use 15,000 square feet of space for the community center and a synagogue — more than four times the size that was eventually approved. According to city officials, after consultation with zoning officials, the property owner reduced the request to convert just 12% of the building’s floor space for “religious purposes.”
The building was purchased by Boca Beach Jewish Educational Center Inc. for $13 million in August 2024. The Chabad launched a capital campaign that raised $9 million in three months and a mortgage supplied the balance.
Rabbi Ruvi New had hoped renovations would be completed in time for 2025’s High Holy Days that start in late September, but the appeal prevented that from happening.
But winning the appeal is progress, and the city is reviewing the plans for renovations.
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