The Boca Raton Planning & Zoning Board has recommended approval for a mixed-use hotel project near the Mizner Park district, proposed by developers James and Marta Batmasian. The board voted 5 to 1 on Thursday in favor of granting parking waivers and other zoning changes that would allow construction of Mizner Plaza, a pair of 12-story hotels with 242 rooms, nearly 19,000 square feet of retail space, and 16,000 square feet for restaurants at 132 and 170 Northeast Second Street.
If approved by the city council and mayor at a future meeting, the development will replace an existing U.S. Post Office branch and a retail plaza. The board also supported transferring a city-owned 0.3-acre parking lot at 190 Northeast Second Street to the Batmasians for underground parking as part of the project.
Board member Dorothy MacDiarmid was the only dissenter on both votes. The current plan would reduce required parking from 569 spaces to just 372 on the site, according to Ele Zachariades, land use attorney for the developers. Two levels of underground parking are planned beneath what is now a city-owned lot with 17 spaces.
Zachariades explained that “the waiver will allow the developer to incorporate a stepped-style crafted by Boca Raton-architecture firm HdA that would place the retail, restaurant spaces and amenities on the first, second, fourth and 12th floors of the hotel.” Hotel rooms would range from 380 to 1,100 square feet.
The Batmasians have offered to replace all current public parking spaces and convert above-ground areas into a small public park. However, most board members agreed with city staff’s recommendation that developers pay $2.4 million—the appraised value—for the land: about $900,000 in cash with remaining value covered through public improvements and maintenance credits related to new park space.
Zachariades told board members that without these waivers or access to city land for underground parking, an alternative design would likely block more condo views and focus almost entirely on hotel rooms.
Residents from nearby Tower 155 voiced concerns about increased traffic—estimated at over 2,400 daily trips—and congestion through narrow alleyways between their building and Mizner Plaza. Jeff Costello, planning consultant for Tower 155’s condo association, said much of this traffic would funnel through a single alleyway separating Tower 155 from the new development.
Richard De Witt, attorney for Tower 155’s association, argued that proper procedures had not been followed regarding sale of public land: “Once the developers saw that they balked at the price and demanded a new appraisal,” De Witt told board members. He added that “the Batmasians want ‘to pay zero’ for the land.” A previous appraisal valued it at $3.3 million—higher than its latest estimate—but Zachariades responded that earlier figures included unrelated public properties not needed for her clients’ plans.
Despite opposition from some residents and one board member’s dissenting vote, most officials expressed support for revitalizing downtown Boca Raton around Mizner Park. Board member Timothy Dornblaser said: “I do think it is a beautiful building. Mizner needs something. Mizner has a lot of problems.”
This proposal marks James and Marta Batmasian’s second attempt since summer 2023 to develop hotels near Mizner Park; their previous plan called for two buildings with more hotel rooms as well as additional retail space.
James Batmasian has been active in Boca Raton real estate since founding Investments Limited in the early eighties but served eight months in prison after pleading guilty in a payroll tax case in 2008 before being pardoned by President Donald Trump in December 2020.
