By Steve Plunkett
The City Council may decide what restaurant goes on the former Wildflower site as soon as October.
The city plans to issue a request for proposals for the 2.25-acre Intracoastal Waterway parcel in mid-June, Deputy City Manager George Brown said.
“The vision is that the restaurant is an amenity in a public space, the public space isn’t an amenity to the restaurant,” Brown said.
He said the RFP would require that the restaurant be open to the general public, attractive to all facets of the public and have an affordable menu.
Buildings will be positioned to emphasize views of the Intracoastal, and plans must provide for sufficient parking without disrupting Silver Palm Park to the south.
“Everybody would like to preserve as much of the property open to the public on the waterfront without using it for parking as possible,” City Manager Leif Ahnell said at the City Council’s April 9 workshop.
City officials envision a hub of activity at the east gateway to the downtown, as well as landscaping to emphasize the site as a gateway to the Intracoastal.
“It would be up to the developer to tell us how they’re going to achieve those requirements,” Brown said.
The proposals must include lease terms with income guarantees, a description of the project team, a market analysis, proposed schedule, site plan and traffic studies, Brown said.
“We’re talking about a restaurant that’s an amenity to a public space as opposed to having a restaurant with a little bit of public space hanging around. That is a totally different way of looking at it, and it does open some, I’m hoping, imaginative possibilities and proposals coming forward,” council member Michael Mullaugh said. Boca Raton bought the land in 2009 for $7.5 million. The City Council heard informal proposals in October from three stand-alone restaurants, two multi-story complexes, a recreation-oriented business and a recent architecture graduate who wanted a park there. Ú
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