17 Feb

Meet the developers giving old-school Boca Raton a luxury facelift

“We have been trying for 25 years to shake the joke on ‘Seinfeld’ that we are a retirement community,” sighed Scott Singer, the mayor of Boca Raton. “In the city limits I don’t think we even have a retirement community!’’

Boca Raton has, in fact, transitioned into a younger, more vibrant area, with a median age of 48, according to census records.

Major companies have set up shop. The Brightline train opened a Boca station this year that whisks passengers to Miami in 40 minutes and West Palm Beach in 25 minutes. The Mandarin Oriental will open the city’s first new ultra-luxe hotel in almost 100 years.

“I look at Boca as the pearl in the oyster,’’ said Mitchell Robbins, who owns the popular Boca restaurant Farmer’s Table, and is partnering with developer Malcolm Butters on a 120,000-square-foot Class A office building. “Miami and West Palm are now two of the strongest office markets, with tremendous growth and rents up to $150 per foot, while we see office buildings in New York 50% to 60% empty. Boca hadn’t had a new Class A office project in 20 years. Now, major companies from the Northeast are starting to move to Boca, so the surge is inevitable.’’

Robbins’ new building, along with his Chinese restaurant and lounge called Red Pine, will be unveiled in an area near Town Center, now being referred to as “Midtown.’’ Gallagher’s Steakhouse from New York, Meat Market from Miami, and Fiolina Pasta, an offshoot of DC Michelin-starred restaurant Sfoglina, are all moving in along with a slew of youth-oriented eateries including El Camino and Pubbelly Sushi. The district will also have retail shops and over 800 residential units.

“The area is exploding and we are inundated with restaurants trying to find a Boca location,’’ said Tom Prakas, president of the real estate company Prakas & Co.

Nine p.m. was always referred to as “Boca midnight,” but those hours are expanding with all the new arrivals. “We are keeping our kitchen open until 1 a.m.,’’ said Francis Lake, VP of operations for Modern Restaurant Group, which owns El Camino.

Source:nypost.com
By:Beth Landman