The Boca Raton Planning & Zoning Board has recommended approval for a mixed-use hotel project proposed by developers James and Marta Batmasian, despite concerns from local residents. The board voted 5 to 1 in favor of granting parking waivers and zoning changes that would allow the construction of Mizner Plaza, a development featuring two 12-story hotel towers with 242 rooms, nearly 19,000 square feet of retail space, and 16,000 square feet designated for restaurants at 132 and 170 Northeast Second Street.
If completed, the project will replace an existing U.S. Post Office branch and a retail plaza. The board also supported transferring ownership of a city-owned, 0.3-acre parking lot at 190 Northeast Second Street to the Batmasians for underground parking as part of the development.
Board member Dorothy MacDiarmid was the only dissenting vote on both measures. Final decisions will be made by Boca Raton’s mayor and city council at a later date.
Under the approved waiver, the developers are required to provide only 372 parking spaces instead of the currently mandated 569 spaces for the site. According to Ele Zachariades, land use attorney for the Batmasians, plans call for two levels of underground parking beneath what is now a city-owned lot with 17 spaces.
Zachariades explained that this arrangement allows for a stepped architectural design by HdA, placing retail and restaurant areas along with amenities on various floors throughout the building: “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,” Zachariades said.
Hotel room sizes are expected to range from 380 to 1,100 square feet.
The Batmasians have offered to replace all current public parking spaces in an underground garage while converting above-ground space into a small public park. However, most board members agreed with city staff that instead of transferring land without compensation, developers should pay $2.4 million—the appraised value—for the parcel. Nearly $900,000 would be paid in cash; additional value would come through public improvements and credits tied to maintaining future park space.
Without these approvals or access to city land, Zachariades stated that alternative designs could result in blocking views from neighboring condominiums: “Without the parking waiver and city land, the developers would pursue a design that would end up blocking most condo dwellers’ views and consist almost entirely of hotel rooms,” she said.
Residents from Tower 155—a nearby condominium—opposed moving forward without further study. Jeff Costello, planning consultant for Tower 155’s association, estimated over 2,400 new daily vehicle trips if Mizner Plaza is built; much traffic would pass through an alleyway between Tower 155 and Mizner Plaza.
Richard De Witt, attorney representing Tower 155’s association, argued procedural missteps occurred regarding both project review and sale of public property: “Once the developers saw that they balked at the price and demanded a new appraisal,” De Witt told the board about an earlier $3.3 million valuation conducted by Walter Duke & Associates for the same parcel. He added that “the Batmasians want ‘to pay zero’ for the land.”
Zachariades responded that previous appraisals included properties not relevant to her clients’ planned construction.
Several board members expressed support based on potential benefits for downtown revitalization: “I do think it is a beautiful building. Mizner needs something. Mizner has a lot of problems,” said Timothy Dornblaser.
This proposal follows an earlier plan from summer 2023 which called for two smaller towers totaling more hotel rooms plus expanded commercial space.
James and Marta Batmasian lead Investments Limited—one of Boca Raton’s largest real estate firms since its founding in the early 1980s. In recent years James Batmasian served time in prison after pleading guilty to payroll tax evasion but received a presidential pardon in December 2020 from Donald Trump.
