Plans for a new cultural arts center at Mizner Park are next likely to come before the City Council at its July 26 meeting, with a decisive vote to follow Aug. 23. The city and the development group have agreed on the parameters of a deal. Rendering provided
By Mary Hladky
A proposed cultural arts complex in Mizner Park took another big step toward becoming reality on June 23 when Boca Raton’s Planning and Zoning Board voted to recommend that the City Council approve the project.
With two members absent, the board voted 4-1 in favor, with Chair Arnold Sevell dissenting.
City Council members are expected to take up the matter at their July 26 meeting and cast their decisive vote on Aug. 23. It’s all but certain that council members, who deeply desire to have a cultural showplace in the heart of downtown, will approve the deal between the city and the Boca Raton Arts District Exploratory Corp.
The $130 million complex to be built on city-owned land on the north end of Mizner Park will include a performing arts center whose venues can accommodate 6,000 people, completely renovated amphitheater, jewel box theater, rooftop terrace and outdoor performing arts spaces.
If built, the complex will fulfill a long-held vision to transform Mizner Park into the city’s cultural center.
Sevell questioned whether BRADEC, a consortium of local arts organizations, had the necessary experience to bring the project to fruition and whether it could raise enough money.
The city is not contributing funding. BRADEC plans to finance the entire cost with donations from cultural arts supporters and corporations that have long wanted such a facility in the city.
BRADEC President Andrea Virgin tried to reassure the board on both points.
The nonprofit’s consultant is DeVos Institute of Arts Management, which has extensive experience guiding the development of cultural centers. DeVos has conducted feasibility studies that determined the appropriate complex size and that BRADEC would be able finance it.
“We had some of the best consultants in the world working with us on this,” Virgin said. “I assure you we have a very competitive team with worldwide experience.”
Further, greater Boca Raton has a very large philanthropic community eager for such a complex, she said. Their numbers have grown since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Thanks to COVID, we have been the recipient of a tremendous number of high net worth individuals that have moved to this area that not only desire this … they demand it,” she said.
“It is even more feasible now because of the tremendous desire of the people in South Florida to see this type of vibrancy and culture in the place they now call home.”
Under terms of the deal hammered out between the city and BRADEC, the length of BRADEC’s lease of the city-owned land will be 74 years with two 10-year extensions. The lease term is a compromise between the city’s desire for a 50-year lease and BRADEC’s for a 99-year lease.
BRADEC must have at least $75 million in cash, or a loan that cannot exceed 50% of the construction cost, to start the project. It also must have reserve and endowment funds totaling nearly $22 million in cash. It has 11 years to complete the project, but Virgin has repeatedly said the doors will open sooner than that. The city can terminate the deal if BRADEC is unable to raise enough money.
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