Boca Raton

[Go Owls]

Originally Posted by DShoost88

It's a work in progress, but here's a map of what I'd like to see happen to Boca in the next 10 years:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=...bd745bcc&msa=0

Make sure to zoom in and click the items for better detail.

WOW - how do I make a map like this? I'd like to show you my vision of the area with a map like this.

In the meantime: Love all these ideas! You may want to slightly amend your map to reflect FAU's plan to straighten Indian River all the way from West University to East University, freeing up land on the south side. Also, FAU is planning to put their Greek Village - to be very similar to Auburn's new Greek Village - near the stadium because they feel Greeks and sports should be together. So you may want to move that Greek Village north of the stadium.

[DShoost88]

Thanks; glad you like it. It's really easy to make--just time consuming. If you have a gmail account, go to google maps, then click "My Places", and then "Create Map". You can draw lines, shapes, add pictures, and write descriptions on everything.If you wanna message me your email address, I could make you a collaborator on the map.

I didn't know that about the Greek Village, but it makes more sense for it to be next to the athletic facilities. That just means more residence towers along the El Rio trail/canal.

[DShoost88]

Big news out of Boca: $25 million is largest gift to Boca Raton Regional Hospital

http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_...ional-hospital

BOCA RATON, Fla. - A $25-million donation from the co-founder of The Home Depot will create a neuroscience center at Boca Raton Regional Hospital that officials hope will become a national destination for patients with epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and other brain disorders.
The Marcus Neuroscience Institute, set to open in 2014, is expected to create 100 jobs for staff, nurses and doctors, who will work in a new, three-story building with 22 beds, sophisticated equipment and two operating rooms. The center will also host academic research in cooperation with Florida Atlantic University.
The gift is the largest ever to the hospital, topping a $20-million donation in 2005 from Harvey and Phyllis Sandler.
But it's not the largest gift made by Bernie and Billi Marcus, Boca Raton residents whose Marcus Foundation has supported numerous charities in Atlanta, where Home Depot is based, including the Marcus Autism Center, the Marcus Nanotechnology Building at Georgia Tech and the Marcus Trauma Center, part of the Grady Health System. The couple also donated $250 million for the Georgia Aquarium, which opened in 2005.
During a Wednesday news conference, Marcus, 82, said he and his wife have been watching themselves and their friends age and decided they no longer wanted to travel to Atlanta for medical care.
"We have friends with Alzheimer's disease, dear friends," said Marcus, whose net worth is $1.8 billion, according to Forbes. "You see it all around you. The time was right for this 10 years ago."
Marcus said he has been impressed with the evolution of Boca Raton Regional over the past few years, including a residency program with FAU's medical school and cancer care that is becoming a regional mecca.
Marcus showed his sense of humor as he detailed his donation.
"How many of you shop at Home Depot? If any of you shop at the other guy, I put a curse on you," he said. "May your toilet run forever."
Boca Raton hospital officials say the Marcus institute will be unique to Palm Beach and Broward counties for the large concentration of brain specialists in one place, including neurologists, neurosurgeons, "neuro-intensivists," who are trained in critical care, a neuropsychologist and a research director. They expect to recruit 10 to 12 doctors from across the country.
"A lot of people leave South Florida to get care,'' said Dr. Charles Posternack, the hospital's chief medical officer. "There is no other comprehensive neuroscience center where everything is available."
Posternack said the Florida Hospital Neuroscience Institute in Orlando, with 80 physicians who treat the gamut of neurological disorders, provides the closest model in Florida to the Marcus center. Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood also has a neuroscience center, as do the University of Miami's medical school and Jackson Memorial Hospital, which have neurology and neurosurgery units that treat an assortment of brain diseases.
About 50 million Americans have neurological or brain disorders, such as headaches, Parkinson's disease and autism, according to the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. As Baby Boomers age, a growing number, nearly one in two who reach 85, is expected to contract Alzheimer's disease, a progressive dementia, according to the Alzheimer's Association.
"There is a lot of research on neurodegenerative diseases going on now," especially related to traumatic brain injuries, child development, aging and drug addiction, said Richard Hyson, director of the interdisciplinary program in neuroscience at Florida State University. "Everyone's affected by them."
Hospital officials said they will design the 52,000-square-foot building this year and break ground in 2013. Completion is expected in 2014, they said.


Read more: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_...#ixzz1jCK8JeXS

[Go Owls]

You'll probably be able to read about this in the news tomorrow but tonight the City Council approved of the "University Park" 599-bed student housing project at the edge of 20th street and Dixie Highway. It's the same developers as Addison Park. The majority of the Council believes that it will be the catalyst for the redevelopment of 20th Street into a pedestrian college area they called University Avenue.

[DShoost88]

[Jan280]

Thank god there considering this 2nd tri rail station. It is definitely needed. I'll get some picture updates of the whats now called Spanish River Sports Complex because I pass by there everyday to FAU. And Hello everyone, have not been on in a while, so much has happened

[Go Owls]

Originally Posted by Jan280

I'll get some picture updates of the whats now called Spanish River Sports Complex because I pass by there everyday to FAU.

Yes, please.

Is that the official title now? Did they erect a sign out front?

[Jan280]

I don't know if that's the official name yet. I'll look more slowly next time to see if I see any sign or name indicating that. I'll keep you up to date with pics on this project.

[Go Owls]

Thanks! It's looking good!

Might be easier next time (if you have the time) to park over by the library and walk over to get the shots. Just a thought.

[Go Owls]

Here are some renderings of the new student housing complex I mentioned:





And the report:
http://www.southfloridasunrise.com/a...rward-near-fau

[Go Owls]

The City Council is looking for RFPs for both a restaurant at the Wildflower site (hopefully Guanabana's wins it) and also for a "recreational attraction" on the site just east of and adjacent to the new Spanish River library.

Could be a great opportunity if they get something cool in there. I think that was formerly the site reserved for the ice rink.

[DShoost88]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/pal...,6940813.story

Boca Raton readies for apartment-building binge

By Larry Barszewski, Sun Sentinel
9:33 p.m. EDT, April 7, 2012

Boca Raton—
More than a thousand new apartments are being proposed for downtown, with four projects seeking city approvals in just the last four months.

Proponents say the new projects will add something vital for the downtown's health: year-round residents to support downtown businesses.

Critics fear the city is moving too fast and could end up with a glut of empty or unfinished apartments — a reverse version of the Eden condominiums that sat unfinished for seven years across from City Hall before a new developer bought the project in 2010 and finished it as Heritage rental apartments.

The four downtown projects, combined with the 384-unit Broadstone at North Boca Village apartments under construction in the north end of the city, will add almost 1,600 units in eastern Boca Raton. Competing with the new units will be former condominiums that were converted to rentals when the condo market deteriorated.

The apartment binge is being driven by developers going where the money is, not by what is best for the city, said Ann Witte, a research economist and Townsend Place condominium resident downtown.

"The banks will finance apartment rentals right now. They won't finance office or retail because the market is so saturated," Witte said. "My guess is that the market can absorb somewhere around 800 rental units."

Lewis Goodkin, a real estate analyst and president of the Miami-based Goodkin Consulting Corp., agrees that it's all about the financing.

"What I'm concerned about, like a lot of things, when a market gets hot, it's because investor groups are paying big bucks for rentals," Goodkin said. "I think that there's not enough work being done to determine how large that market is."

But the demand is real and growing, said Charlie Siemon, a development attorney representing several of the apartment developers.

"I think we're catching up for lost time. We're filling an imbalance," Siemon said.

The demand, he said, is coming from a number of sources, including people who went through foreclosures who either don't have the credit or the desire to get back into the ownership market, people who prize their mobility and don't want to be tied down by a mortgage and college students who would prefer a downtown lifestyle.

"If we don't have attractive urban-style rental housing, we're not going to be competitive," said Siemon, who says there's a need for one-bedroom apartments. "Now people are realizing paying for more space than you really need is not a good idea."

Witte said that if the rental market falters, it won't be easy to convert those smaller rental units into more desirable condominiums. But the rental push could be a blessing for downtown, proponents say, because a large portion of South Florida condo dwellers are seasonal residents who wouldn't provide the year-round spark the downtown needs.

"The goal is to sustain a vibrant downtown," said Ruby Childers, the city's downtown manager. "From a marketing perspective, if we have residents downtown to support the activities downtown and the businesses, then it's going to flourish."

The downtown projects that have been proposed are:

•Via Mizner, which will have 350 units on the east side of Federal Highway north of Camino Real;

•Camden Boca Raton, a 261-unit complex just west of Federal Highway between Southeast First and Second Streets;

•Ram, 208 units proposed for the southeast corner of Federal Highway and Palmetto Park Road;

•Archstone, which includes 378 rental apartments and 25 townhouse rentals on the north side of Palmetto Park Road east of Northeast Third Avenue.

The Archstone project, approved by the Community Redevelopment Agency in February, sparked a furor because its three-football-field long apartment structure of up to nine stories will be next to single-family homes.

The density of the housing will create traffic congestion, critics say, and they don't think the project has enough ground-level retail space to get people out of their cars and walking downtown.

Opponents submitted petition signatures last month to hold a referendum to overturn the council's decision to extend downtown development regulations to the Palmetto Park Road site, changes that were needed to allow the project to move forward. That effort was dashed after City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser said state law prohibits initiative petitions that challenge approved development orders.

"Projects of this kind are put together by people and organizations that can walk away after the fact, but it's the surrounding residents that live with it for the rest of their lives," said George O'Rourke, who lives in the Golden Triangle neighborhood next to the Archstone site.

"We can develop a town that is done tastefully with new development, with new vibrancy," O'Rourke said. "It doesn't have to be the highest density. It doesn't have to be gaming the ordinances."

Councilman Anthony Majhess, who voted against Archstone, wants to make sure the city gets the right mix of residential, office and retail in the downtown.

"I'm happy that we have economic activity and what should be affordable options for rentals in the downtown, but I'm concerned we're moving forward without a plan," Majhess said. "I'd be less concerned if the banks were loaning money in all sectors, but they're not. So now rental's the most important thing."

lbarszewski@tribune.com or 561-243-6624

[South Florida]

^ I'm Asumming that the Archstone Nine Level Building will be the tallest one of the four. Would be nice for downtown boca to get a 20 story signature tower.

[South Florida]

Correction After Research: Via Mizner will be 13 floors.

[DShoost88]

Originally Posted by South Florida

Correction After Research: Via Mizner will be 13 floors.

HOORAY!!! 'South Florida' did some research!!!

[South Florida]

Typically, I always attempt to do research, but google only goes so far.

What are your thoughts on these new developments?

Also, While we are on the subject of downtown Boca, after reading the south Florida corridor study 300+ page document, I figured out that their will be a tri-rail station at palmetto and dixie rd, but when I drive through their on a weekly basis, I do not notice any land available for a large station.

[ar305]

Isn't the trirail station west of 95 ?

[South Florida]

^ The Proposed Tri-Rail Station on the FEC Railroad, the Current CSX Tri-Rail station is located on Yamato and congress.

[Go Owls]

Originally Posted by South Florida

I figured out that their will be a tri-rail station at palmetto and dixie rd, but when I drive through their on a weekly basis, I do not notice any land available for a large station.

That doesn't sound right. I believe the next Tri-Rail station is supposed to be along Military Trail just south of Glades Road (perhaps across from NW 19th Street).

From what I remember, the idea is to get people off the train there and onto buses or shuttles that can take them either west to the mall or east to FAU/Boca Regional Hospital.

[Go Owls]

Originally Posted by DShoost88

Councilman Anthony Majhess, who voted against Archstone, wants to make sure the city gets the right mix of residential, office and retail in the downtown.

"I'm happy that we have economic activity and what should be affordable options for rentals in the downtown, but I'm concerned we're moving forward without a plan," Majhess said.

What a surprise... Majhess voted against progress.