By Mary Hladky
The Boca Raton City Council has approved the Concierge, a nine-story multifamily residential project at 22 SE Sixth St. that became embroiled in litigation in 2018 when it was proposed as an assisted living facility.
The council, acting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, unanimously blessed the 42-unit downtown building with almost no comment on April 24.
It will include a ground-floor covered outdoor seating area. A fitness area with a terrace will be on the third floor. A pool with deck, spa, summer kitchen and covered seating areas will be on the roof deck. A mechanized garage below ground will have 60 spaces and valet service.
The plan does not say whether the units will be condos or rental apartments.
The Concierge ALF was originally proposed by developer Group P6. Former Deputy Mayors Andrea O’Rourke and Monica Mayotte questioned whether an ALF was a good fit for the downtown, even though the council had approved another one a year earlier.
Saying the city wanted a vibrant downtown, O’Rourke said she was not sure how much the Concierge’s residents would be engaged in the community. Mayotte said other locations would probably be better for “these types of residents.”
Some council members also questioned whether the ALF would overburden the city’s fire rescue services.
After the council rejected the project, Group P6 filed suit and landowner Robert Buehl promised to file another one. They said the council comments amounted to discrimination against the elderly.
The American Seniors Housing Association filed an amicus brief in support of Group P6, saying the project denial “represents an unlawful discriminatory bias against seniors.”
Council members quickly reversed course and approved the ALF as a condition of settling Group P6’s suit.
But Group P6 did not build it and sold the 0.61-acre property to a partnership for $10.2 million in 2021.
The new landowner is 22-26 Southeast Sixth Street LLC. State corporate records show it is affiliated with Maryland-based Omega Healthcare Investors, which was one of three companies in the partnership.
Comments