Voters in Boca Raton rejected the proposed One Boca redevelopment project by Terra and Frisbie Group, according to results announced on March 11. The decision followed a referendum in which 74.5 percent of the 18,931 votes cast were against the plan.
The outcome is significant as it marks a major victory for local opposition groups and shifts control of the city council to candidates who campaigned against large-scale development. The Save Boca organization, led by Jon Pearlman, played a key role in organizing resistance to the project and successfully pushed for the issue to be decided by public vote.
Pearlman also won his race for City Council seat B with 52.9 percent of the vote. Other Save Boca-backed candidates, Stacy Sipple and Michelle Grau, secured seats A and D with 66.6 percent and 55.8 percent respectively, giving anti-development advocates a majority on the council. Meanwhile, the mayoral race between Andy Thomson and Mike Liebelson remains undecided pending a recount.
The One Boca proposal included a long-term lease of nearly eight acres of city-owned land for redevelopment that would have added new municipal facilities as well as residential units, office space, retail outlets, and parking. The developers had selected Kohn Pedersen Fox as architects for the project.
In response to the defeat, Terra CEO David Martin and Frisbie leaders Rob Frisbie Jr. and Cody Crowell said: “While this was not the outcome we had hoped for, we appreciate the community’s thoughtful participation and dialogue throughout this process.”
Opponents raised concerns about leasing public land to private developers for nearly a century, insufficient early public input, potential impacts on Memorial Park’s banyan trees, and whether city funds could cover needed upgrades without outside involvement. Pearlman described the plan as akin to “bulldozing Central Park.” Supporters like Jason Haber warned that an anti-development council could make future projects difficult: “How are you going to get anything through if you have a council that’s dead set against development?” he said.
With One Boca now rejected and new leadership in place at city hall, questions remain about how necessary upgrades will proceed. Incumbent Marc Widger commented earlier this month: “The community center needs to be replaced no matter what, the city hall needs to be replaced no matter what… The city in theory could do it on its own, but that would be a burden to the tax payers.”
