BOCA RATON, FL — The Boca Raton Museum of Art will present plans for a $42.3 million arts campus on 1.80 acres at the north end of Mizner Park when the city's Community Redevelopment Agency meets Monday, according to a presentation posted with the meeting agenda.
The item is listed on the July 27 agenda as a presentation. The agenda carries no quasi-judicial hearings, no resolutions and no other business, so the agency's five members are not scheduled to take formal action on the proposal. A transcript was not available for this report because the meeting has not yet been held.
The museum's presentation, titled "Mizner Arts Campus" and dated for the July 27 meeting, describes three components on a 1.80-acre site outlined in an aerial photograph of Mizner Park's north end. Those components are:
- An art school the presentation calls a purpose-built home for art education, serving more than 5,000 students annually
- A sculpture park the museum describes as public green space, free and open year-round
- An auditorium for programs, performances and community use
The presentation puts the cost at $42.3 million, based on what it labels a feasibility study assessment, and says $20 million has already been secured. It does not identify the source of the remaining money, the ownership or lease status of the 1.80 acres, or any specific approval being requested from the agency.
The museum frames the project as completing the original master plan for Mizner Park's north end, which the presentation describes as an art and culture hub. It notes the art museum opened in 2001 and the amphitheatre opened in 2002, while a planned concert hall was never built.
The museum traces its history to the founding of the Art Guild of Boca Raton in 1950, an art school and museum that opened on Palmetto Park Road in 1962, and the museum's move to Mizner Park in 2001. It reports serving more than 50,000 visitors and more than 5,000 art students a year, holding 5,000 works in its collection, and running more than 10 exhibitions, more than 30 programs for all ages and more than 20 care and wellness programs annually.
Under a slide headed "The Moment," the presentation says the art school is at capacity, that its current space cannot meet programmatic needs, and that the physical separation between the museum and the school limits collaboration and shared programming.
The museum projects the campus would more than double capacity for art engagement, to more than 10,000 students, and add K-12 programming it describes as free arts education for local schools. The presentation also cites outside research: Americans for the Arts for a finding that cultural tourists spend more than 60% more per trip than other travelers, the Urban Studies Journal for a finding that arts districts are associated with 8% to 15% increases in adjacent property values, and the Trust for Public Land for a finding of up to $4 in economic benefits for every $1 invested in public parks. Those figures appear in the museum's own presentation and are not attributed to city staff analysis in the materials released with the agenda.
The presentation includes testimonials from participants who are not named. One, identified only as an art school student in 2026, is quoted saying, "My art class is the best thing in my week."
Downtown parking review follows a June valet request
The agency's second scheduled presentation is a downtown parking overview and a follow-up on a license agreement request, prepared by Special Projects Manager Stephen Timberlake and dated July 2026.
The item follows the agency's June 9 meeting, which had no presentations, hearings or votes and ran about 25 minutes. According to the minutes, Neil Schiller provided a handout regarding a proposed valet parking permit in the downtown, and Deputy City Manager Andy Lukasik, City Attorney Joshua Koehler and City Manager Mark Sohaney provided additional information. At the same meeting, Fran Nachlas asked staff for an update on a pilot program for limited free parking downtown.
Staff's recommendation is to continue granting renewals of existing license agreements while restricting new agreements to areas with low utilization, mainly west of Federal Highway. The presentation says staff is seeking the agency's guidance on whether to keep offering additional license agreements for public parking spaces at all.
Over the last 12 months, the downtown metered system generated $2,002,366.45 across 530,894 transactions, according to the presentation. Meters accounted for 314,926 of those transactions and $1,284,046.95, at an average of two hours and two minutes purchased. ParkMobile accounted for 214,154 transactions and $716,712.50, at an average of one hour and 40 minutes. A special rate covering Mizner Amphitheater events and a 5-cent post office rate accounted for 1,814 transactions and $1,607.
Parking citations over the same period totaled 34,520, carrying $1,675,620 in fines. Expired meter citations made up 25,976 of those, with $909,160 in fines. The presentation lists 1,585 handicap violations at $396,250, 4,660 life safety citations at $289,745, and 2,299 other citations at $80,465.
Every on-street space inside the CRA boundary is metered, with a four-hour maximum and enforcement available 24 hours a day, according to the presentation. Payment is available at 118 meters or through the ParkMobile app.
The presentation lists eight active license agreements, all described as renewals:
- Casa D'Angelo, three right of way valet spaces at 171 E. Palmetto Park Road, licensed since 2017, expiring 2027
- Reno's, three valet spaces on Southeast First Avenue, licensed 2018, expiring 2028
- Via Mizner, three valet spaces on Boca Raton Road west of Federal Highway, licensed 2017, expiring 2026
- 200 East Palmetto, three loading zone spaces on Royal Palm east of Mizner Boulevard, licensed 2012, expiring 2030
- Hyatt Place, three loading zone spaces on East Royal Palm, licensed 2018, expiring 2028
- D'Almeida Attorney's Office, four spaces in the bank parking lot, licensed 2014, expiring 2029
- Synovus Bank, four spaces in the bank lot, licensed 2013, expiring 2031
- 280 E Palmetto Park LLC, two spaces in the bank lot, licensed 2025, expiring 2030
Three recent requests are pending, according to the presentation: a loading zone of two to three spaces for Tower 155 on Boca Raton Road, a valet stand on First Avenue using two to four spaces plus four more in the bank lot, and discussions with Mizner Park about additional spaces for premium valet.
The presentation also reports on two pilot programs. A 29-minute free parking rate launched in November 2024 on First Avenue, where about 8% of transactions used it. Boca Raton Road was added May 12, and about 15% of transactions there have applied the rate. About 3,000 free sessions have occurred to date, which the presentation describes as $3,000 in lost meter revenue.
Space occupancy monitors are running on Royal Palm and at Sanborn Square and were set to expand onto Palmetto in July. From January through June, the monitors logged 25,847 parking sessions of more than five minutes at Sanborn Square. About 10,000 lasted under 30 minutes, with about 25% tied to a paid transaction. Sessions of 30 minutes to an hour numbered 4,500, with 82% paid. Sessions of one to two hours totaled 6,800, with 83% paid. Sessions longer than two hours reached 4,500, with 75% paid.
The Sanborn Square area has 112 parking spaces, 68 on the street and 44 spread across two lots. Those spaces generate about $52,000 a year in meter revenue from more than 14,000 transactions, roughly 2.6% of the downtown total.
The agency meets at 1:30 p.m. Monday in the auditorium at 6500 N. Congress Ave. Residents who want to speak during public requests are asked to state their name and address for the record and limit remarks to three minutes. A City Council workshop meeting is scheduled to begin when the CRA meeting ends.
The board is made up of Chair Andy Thomson, Vice Chair Yvette Drucker, and Commissioners Michelle Grau, Jon Pearlman and Stacy Sipple.
The Community Redevelopment Agency continues to steer investment in and around downtown Boca Raton, balancing development interests against long-standing resident concerns. Our Boca Raton government section follows CRA actions and downtown projects.
