This article, originally published by Al Zucaro on BocaWatch.org, is preserved for historical purposes by Massive Impressions Online Marketing in Boca Raton.
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As our mayor has well said Boca is an “urban village”. It was not meant to be a place of trendy, high rises for the international set. It was meant to be a community with architectural coherence where families could raise children and empty nester could enjoy a village with urban amenities.
El Ad, a foreign developer, is proposing to change all of this. The Developer plans to replace the two-story townhouses at Mizner on the Green (210 SE Mizner Blvd, Boca Raton, FL 33432) with four huge towers. The towers range in size from 277 feet to 352 feet and average more than 3 times the height allowed under Boca’s development laws which allow only an average height of 100 feet. See City Ordinances 4035, 5051 and 5052.
In addition to grossly exceeding current City height restriction the proposed development also violates City design requirements. City Ordinance 4035 states that building design should reflect the fundamental concepts which are found in the architecture of Addison Mizner.
We, the Citizens of Boca, need to unite to insure that our current Ordinances are upheld and that neither a new ordinance nor an amendment to the Downtown Development of Regional Impact (DDRI) written specifically to allow this project is passed by our Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and City Council. Ordinance and Amendments specific to a particular project are too open to favoritism and encourages corruption.
Let your City Council know that you support existing Ordinances and oppose special Ordinance for individual development projects. Council emails are:
Steve Wynn, a very wealth and savvy investor, said that Elad “got a little carried away in the heat of all the excitement of ’05 and ’06 and ’07 and they overpaid for” property. Mizner on the Green was one of the properties Elad overpaid for. Elad bought the property n 2006 and paid $101 million for the property valuing each townhouse at over $400,000. Financing for the purchase was provided by Lehman, the financial wizard the precipitating the Great Recession. Elads typical practice is to try to pin all losses on those who finance its project. For example of their tactics see http://www.haaretz.com/business/billionaire-blames-obama-for-israeli-tycoons-las-vegas-plaza-flop.premium-1.469878 Elas is now trying to get the City of Boca Raton to allow a mammoth development to allow them to get out of property that they overpaid for in 2006. As the article states, there is no reason to alter Boca’s Ordinance to bail a very wealthy foreign developer.
What’s wrong with building huge monster, FIRE TRAPS, in the City? Time to ‘follow the money’ on this project …. which council member(s) suddenly start traveling more, buying new cars, expensive jewelry, etc.