A new 190-unit rental project is envisioned to rise to 12 stories in Boca Raton, whose growing downtown has drawn many additional residents and buildings in recent years.
The proposed project, called the Residences of Boca Raton, would be located at 41 SE 4th St., in a section bordered by Southeast Third Street and Southeast Fifth Street, west of South Federal Highway and east of South Dixie Highway.
The applicant, DMBK LLC, proposes to tear down four existing structures built in the 1960s to accommodate the project.
The Boca Raton Community Redevelopment Agency approved the project in a 5-0 vote Tuesday evening.
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Construction should take anywhere between 30-36 months.
The thriving downtown corridor has seen thousands of units come its way in the form of new high-rise buildings, luxury project and apartments and condominiums.
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Recent projects include Camino Square, an eight story apartment complex with 350 units along West Camino Square, as well as the nine-story Alina Residences at Mizner Blvd., offering over 400 residences in total.
A site plan for the Residences at Boca Raton project reveals that the project will sit on 2.1 acres, with 41% of the site dedicated to green space, 335 parking spaces and 20 spaces for bicycles.
The project is expected to bring in about $766,094.26 in net annual tax increment revenue, according to city documents.
Several residents, however, expressed concerns with traffic patterns and roadways, the possible access between Arbor Condominiums and the new project, and issues arising from the development and potentially spilling over into the nearby Arbor Condominiums.
“I use Fourth Street two to four times a day driving from my office to my home. I don’t object to our neighbors developing their property. I do object to them using what was given to all of us to help them with their project,” said Arthur Cantor, who owns in the Arbor Condominium. “The proposed access to our property is totally unacceptable.”
The city has maintained that under the current plan, Arbor Condominium residences would still keep their main access to Dixie Highway and have more logical access points to Federal Highway. As well, the plan allows for the improvement of two alleys that need it and offers redevelopment in a part of the downtown area that needs it.
“This is a really unusual circumstance because we have an alley where the horizontal street dead ends. Fourth Street is not a through street. It’s not going to be a through street. It hasn’t been one for countless decades,” said Mayor Scott Singer. “We’re not abandoning rights of way. We’re really trading for improvement of alleys here. … We have infrastructure upgrades that are being offered by the applicant.”