bradec - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T14:26:45Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/bradecBoca Raton: Planning board gives thumbs-up to performing arts centerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-planning-board-gives-thumbs-up-to-performing-arts-cent2022-06-29T14:29:41.000Z2022-06-29T14:29:41.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:center;"><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10604856263,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10604856263,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="10604856263?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>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. <strong>Rendering provided</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>By Mary Hladky</strong></p>
<p>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.<br />With two members absent, the board voted 4-1 in favor, with Chair Arnold Sevell dissenting.<br />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.<br />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.<br />If built, the complex will fulfill a long-held vision to transform Mizner Park into the city’s cultural center.<br />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. <br />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.<br />BRADEC President Andrea Virgin tried to reassure the board on both points.<br />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.<br />“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.”<br />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.<br />“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.<br />“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.”<br />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.<br />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. </p></div>Boca Raton: Performing arts center takes big step with OK on length of leasehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-performing-arts-center-takes-big-step-with-ok-on-lengt2022-05-04T15:03:56.000Z2022-05-04T15:03:56.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Mary Hladky</strong></p>
<p>The City Council and a cultural arts organization have cleared a major hurdle to finalizing a deal that would allow a $130 million performing arts complex to be built on city-owned land in Mizner Park.<br />Having resolved sticking points in the deal, the city and Boca Raton Arts District Exploratory Corp. are expected to finalize development and land lease agreements in May, with the project going before the Planning and Zoning Board in June and the City Council for final approval in August.<br />The city and BRADEC have been negotiating for nearly one year and have reached agreement on a host of matters. But they remained at loggerheads on two key points, and city staff asked City Council members to make the call at their April 11 workshop meeting.<br />Council members acted surprisingly quickly and with little debate, signaling once again their strong support for a state-of-the-art cultural complex with a completely revamped amphitheater.<br />“I will be happy to see Mizner Park what it was imagined to be at the beginning,” Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke said, referring to never-realized 30-year-old plans to make Mizner Park the city’s cultural center.<br />The most critical point of disagreement was the length of the lease of 3.6 city acres. BRADEC wanted a 99-year lease term, but dialed that back slightly during negotiations to 74 years with two 10-year renewals. The city wanted a 30-year lease with two 10-year renewals.<br />Brett Egan, president of the DeVos Institute of Arts Management and a BRADEC consultant, said a lengthy lease was crucial to attracting donors who will finance the project. <br />Many other cultural centers in the country have 99-year leases, as does the Boca Raton Museum of Art, which also leases city land in Mizner Park, he said.<br />“Without that leverage, we feel the project would be laughed out of the room,” Egan said. <br />To back that up, the BRADEC team submitted a letter from supporter and philanthropist Richard Schmidt, who wrote that a 50-year total lease term is insufficient to attract financial support. <br />“Those who are willing to invest hard-earned capital for community projects will require a commitment well beyond 50 years, as will any financial institutions which may be required for interim financing,” he wrote.<br />Mayor Scott Singer was the only council member supporting staff’s insistence on a 50-year lease.<br />“I have a lot of heartburn with the concept of a 99-year lease,” he said. A shorter lease would give future city councils more flexibility if it is needed and would give the city greater control, he said.<br />But with four other council members saying they had no problem with a longer lease that conforms with lease terms elsewhere in the country, the debate was over.<br />BRADEC’s attorney, Ele Zachariades, quickly announced that her client was dropping its objections to a second city demand.<br />BRADEC has committed to having reserve and endowment funds totaling nearly $22 million. But it wanted donation pledges, rather than cash, to count, while the city wanted no more than 50% to come from pledges to ensure that BRADEC has money on hand.<br />With BRADEC conceding on this point, the deal was done, and BRADEC supporters in the audience applauded.<br />Even if the city approves the development and land lease agreements, BRADEC will have to meet its fundraising goals in order to maintain city support.<br />The cultural complex, named the Boca Raton Center for Arts and Innovation, will be able to accommodate a total of 6,000 people in a performing arts center, jewel box theater, renovated amphitheater, rooftop terrace and outdoor performing arts spaces. A parking garage also is part of the project.<br />The theater buildings will have no fixed seating, walls, ceilings or floors. Instead, all these elements can be reconfigured to meet the needs of whatever they are used for.<br />BRADEC’s most recent timeline shows construction beginning in 2030, with the entire project to be completed in three years.</p></div>Boca Raton: Deal nears on proposed $130 million performing arts complexhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-deal-nears-on-proposed-130-million-performing-arts-com2022-03-30T14:18:58.000Z2022-03-30T14:18:58.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10248950485,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10248950485,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="710" alt="10248950485?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></strong><em>The Innovation and Education Center, part of a $130 million performing arts complex planned for Boca Raton’s Mizner Park, would include a rooftop terrace, two studios, other performance space and headquarters for the complex. <strong>Renderings provided</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>By Mary Hladky</strong></p>
<p>The Boca Raton Arts District Exploratory Corp. is refining its plans as the cultural arts group and city officials work to finalize a deal that would allow a $130 million performing arts complex to be built on city-owned land in Mizner Park.<br />The most recent renderings for the proposed Boca Raton Center for Arts and Innovation, released on March 22, highlight the versatility of its theaters to accommodate any type of performance or other events.<br />They also point to the technical capabilities that will be built into the completely revamped amphitheater and other venues in the complex that could accommodate a total of 6,000 people, said center president Andrea Virgin.<br />There will be no fixed seating, walls, ceilings or floors. Instead, all these elements can be reconfigured to meet the needs of whatever they are used for.<br />The technologies take into account tech-savvy younger audiences by including video walls, LED projections and simulcasting, allowing performances in one space to be broadcast throughout the complex.<br />The coronavirus pandemic has informed the project, with attention paid to indoor air quality and filtration. Renewable energy technologies also are incorporated.<br />BRADEC officials and the City Council will next meet on April 11, Virgin said, when city staff will seek the council’s direction on the remaining matters that are being negotiated.<br />Virgin also expects that the council will hear an overview of deal terms that the two sides already have agreed on.<br />“Negotiations have been going very well,” she said.<br />City staff also has sounded upbeat over the last few months when the negotiations have been mentioned at meetings.<br />Under the deal that is in the works, the city and BRADEC, a 501(c)(3), would enter into a long-term ground lease of 3.6 acres of city land in Mizner Park.<br />BRADEC would construct the performing arts complex and finance its entire cost with donations from cultural arts supporters and corporations that have long wanted such a facility in the city. </p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10248970072,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10248970072,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="601" alt="10248970072?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>The planned performing arts complex (lighted at rear) would figure prominently at the northern end of Mizner Park, to the east of the Boca Raton Museum of Art.</em></p></div>Boca Raton: Performing arts consortium is council’s clear favoritehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-performing-arts-consortium-is-council-s-clear-favori-12021-06-02T15:35:28.000Z2021-06-02T15:35:28.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Mary Hladky</strong></p>
<p>The city and the Boca Raton Arts District Exploratory Corp. are moving closer to inking a deal that would allow a $130 million performing arts complex to be built on city-owned land in Mizner Park.<br />City Council members made clear that they favor BRADEC as they brushed aside two rival proposals on May 10 and directed city staff to continue negotiations.<br />The city was legally required to request additional proposals because it would be leasing city land to BRADEC for many years if an agreement is reached.<br />Naftali Group, a New York City-based development company, said it would redevelop and redesign the Mizner Park Amphitheater and build a mixed-use project on an adjacent 1.8 acres of city-owned land. That could include residential, retail and offices. <br />But none of the company’s many projects has included a cultural arts center, Executive Director Gary Cohen said.<br />AEG Presents, a Los Angeles-headquartered national concert promoter and venue management company that provides programming at the amphitheater, said it would operate and do programming for the amphitheater and develop cultural venues on the 1.8 acres.<br />Both companies said they would not request any funding from the city. AEG Presents said it did not intend to share event revenues with the city, although this could be negotiated.<br />Their proposals were not specific. Cohen acknowledged being “late to the game,” saying his company only recently learned the city was accepting proposals and did not have time to present a more comprehensive plan.<br />BRADEC’s submission, in contrast, ran to 242 pages, including appendices.<br />After the presentations, a long line of BRADEC supporters urged council members to complete a deal with the organization.<br />All five council members said they favor BRADEC because it is a local company with ties to many of the city’s cultural organizations.<br />“I like the fact they are a community-based organization and they have support from our arts-based organizations,” council member Monica Mayotte said.<br />BRADEC has “unbelievable community support,” Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke said.<br />“Your zeal and passion and support is clear,” said Mayor Scott Singer. “My concerns are financial. You have addressed that by forgoing city funds.”<br />“BRADEC. Let’s get going on that,” said council member Andy Thomson.<br />BRADEC proposes completely renovating the existing 3,500-seat amphitheater and adding indoor and outdoor performing arts spaces, a rooftop terrace and more parking.<br />This would be financed by donations from cultural arts supporters and corporations that have long wanted such a facility in the city.<br />The $130 million price tag includes a $12 million endowment, $4 million reserve and $4 million for working capital.<br />In its most recent submission, BRADEC said it has identified 147 “high-potential” donors, including 19 who have the ability to contribute well in excess of $1 million and 17 who could contribute at least $1 million. A majority have shown an interest in becoming involved in the project.<br />Another 359 potential donors don’t have a connection to the project but have a “philanthropic track record” in Boca Raton and Palm Beach County, the submission states.<br />In another Mizner Park matter, council members on May 11 gave the go-ahead to the Boca Raton Museum of Art to demolish the western portion of the colonnade that runs along both sides of the amphitheater. <br />Eliminating the colonnade will improve access to the museum and its sculpture garden. Museum officials also plan to add landscaping and new lighting and to repave the museum’s entryway.<br />The city is requiring the museum to put a fence in place when the amphitheater is hosting events to prevent people from slipping in without buying a ticket. The fence can be removed when it’s not needed.<br />Art museum Executive Director Irvin Lippman expects the work will be completed in September, just ahead of the Oct. 16 start of the Machu Picchu and the Golden Empires of Peru exhibition that begins its world tour at the museum. </p></div>