The Boca Raton City Council has given unanimous approval to a proposal by the city’s housing authority and Atlantic Pacific Companies to expand an affordable housing complex in the city. The plan allows for the addition of 105 apartments to the Residences at Martin Manor, located at 1350 North Dixie Highway.
With these zoning changes, Atlantic Pacific and the Boca Raton Housing Authority will construct two new three-story apartment buildings on the southern part of the existing 10-acre site. The expansion will include 54 one-bedroom units, 42 two-bedroom units, and nine three-bedroom units.
The project involves redeveloping what was originally known as Dixie Manor—a complex built between the 1940s and 1980s—into a modern community with a total of 200 apartments. Most of the original structures are being demolished as part of this transformation.
“Dixie Manor was developed many moons ago, between the 1940s and 1980s, and [the buildings] were in disrepair,” said Ele Zachariades, lobbyist for Atlantic Pacific Companies, during Tuesday’s council meeting.
One building from the original complex—a structure dating back to the 1940s—will be preserved. Half of its space is set to become a museum dedicated to Pearl City, which was established in 1915 as a segregated neighborhood for African Americans before Boca Raton itself existed.
Atlantic Pacific Companies CEO Howard Cohen and Housing Authority leaders decided to increase unit numbers because there is significant demand for affordable housing in Boca Raton. “There is a large waiting list for affordable apartments in Boca Raton,” Zachariades added.
Ashley Whidby, executive director of the Boca Raton Housing Authority, explained that new units will be reserved for households earning between 30 percent and 80 percent of area median income (AMI). For Palm Beach County in 2025, this means incomes ranging from $24,570 to $65,520 for a single-person household based on figures from Florida Housing Finance Corporation.
Atlantic Pacific Communities secured redevelopment rights for Dixie Manor last year. The company is also pursuing several other affordable housing projects across South Florida: these include plans for a large-scale complex near St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Leisure City; a smaller building near Liberty City’s Carver Theater; an eight-story project with workforce housing options in Miami’s Overtown; and collaboration with Casa Familia on residences designed for disabled adults in Kendall.
Other developments involving affordable or workforce housing are also moving forward in Boca Raton. In June, Peachtree Group received approval alongside another developer to build nearly three hundred mixed-income apartments at Northwest Broken Sound Parkway—with some units set aside as affordable or workforce options—and Oak Lane Partners has proposed over two hundred apartments near Park of Commerce Boulevard under Florida’s Live Local Act program.
