By Mary Hladky
A compromise between antagonists in the most recent dispute over construction of the luxury Alina Residences Boca Raton condominium appears likely to clear the way for quick city approval of the project.
Bonnie Miskel, the attorney for developer El-Ad National Properties, told Boca Raton City Council members, sitting as Community Redevelopment Agency commissioners, on Nov. 26 that a tentative agreement had been reached and she thought El-Ad would approve it shortly.
Council members agreed to delay their vote until Dec. 10, giving time for the agreement to be finalized.
“I am all for postponing this for them to work out a deal,” said council member Monica Mayotte.
Alina Residences, formerly known as Mizner 200, is one of the most contentious projects in the city’s history. Downtown residents complained that it would be too massive and a symbol of downtown overdevelopment.
El-Ad proposed a 384-unit condo on about 9 acres along Southeast Mizner Boulevard that would replace the 246 Mizner on the Green townhouses.
El-Ad made concessions on building design, landscaping and setbacks that eventually won over critics, and the project was approved after a flurry of last-minute deal making in 2017.
But earlier this year, El-Ad asked for approval to build the project in two phases, add valet parking and to not fully complete a pedestrian promenade until the second phase was finished.
Residents of the neighboring Townsend Place condo strongly objected, saying they had a firm deal with El-Ad in 2017 and the developer was now reneging. They had the support of Investments Limited, a major downtown landowner, and the BocaBeautiful downtown activists.
Their chief concern was that the three-tower project would be built in phases, even though El-Ad originally said it would be built all at once. That raised the possibility that the second phase would not be built if the condos did not sell well, which would leave them with one new condo tower next to the run-down townhouses.
They also objected to delays in completing the pedestrian promenade along Mizner Boulevard, fearing it never would be finished if the second phase was not built.
Under the new deal, project opponents no longer are objecting to the project’s being completed in phases.
“In trying to get a settlement, we backed off the phasing,” said Norman Waxman, a Townsend Place condo board member.
“You have to pick your battles,” said Robert Eisen of Investments Limited.
But Waxman got something he wanted. The pedestrian promenade in front of what would be Phase 2 would be an enhanced version of what El-Ad said it would build earlier this year, and it would be built more quickly.
El-Ad also would add landscaping between Townsend Place and the Phase 2 property to buffer the condo residents from the construction.
Investments Limited would get the concession that if El-Ad asks the city to approve changes to Phase 2, it will not be allowed to change the pedestrian promenade or the spaces between the three condo towers that allow for eastward views to the ocean. Investments Limited wants to redevelop its Royal Palm Place across the street from the Alina Residences property.
“We all kind of got what we wanted,” Eisen said.
As of Nov. 26, Waxman was crossing his fingers.
“I do think we are close to agreement,” he said.
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