The Residences of Boca is a 12-story, 190-apartment complex that’s set to rise just west of Federal Highway between Southwest Third and Fifth streets. Rendering provided
By Mary Hladky
The City Council has unanimously approved a luxury residential project in the downtown, the first large downtown development to get a green light since the Camino Square apartments were approved in 2019.
The 12-story Residences of Boca, located on 2.1 acres just west of Federal Highway between Southeast Third and Fifth streets, will be a 190-unit apartment building.
The property comprises four parcels, three of which are owned by a group of five lawyers that formed DMBK LLC. Three of the lawyers practice with the Dunay, Miskel Backman firm that is well known for its representation of developers. The fourth nearly half-acre parcel is owned by developer Compson Associates.
Two alleys and a portion of Southeast Fourth Street cut through the property. City abandonment of that land, totaling nearly a half-acre, allows the project to span the four parcels.
The developer is Hunter Monsour, vice president of investment and development for West Palm Beach-based Wexford Real Estate Investors.
Name partner Bonnie Miskel said the group decided to sell its land because her law firm, whose offices at 14 SE Fourth St. are on the property, had outgrown its space and needed to move.
Her firm’s offices and other buildings on the property, all built during the 1960s, will be demolished to make way for the new building, which is designed by Miami-based Arquitectonica.
The project was opposed by residents of the nearby Arbors office condominium and by the Boca First blog. Arbors residents complained that they would lose easy access to South Federal Highway, and as a result, their condos would lose value.
Some of them and Boca First also contended that the city would be giving away the abandoned land to a developer.
City officials saw things differently. They noted that the area is dilapidated and in need of redevelopment and said the abandonments would be in the best interest of the city.
Miskel said the developer would spend $1.4 million on upgrading water, sewer and electrical utilities, while also adding sidewalks and a significant amount of landscaping to an area that has virtually none.
Some of the criticism was muted when Miskel proposed a change that would allow the condo owners to keep their access to Federal Highway.
City Council members, sitting as heads of the Community Redevelopment Agency, quickly approved the project on April 24, saying it would improve the area.
“It will make it a nicer and better experience for everyone,” said council member Fran Nachlas.
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