Two years after the project was first floated, Boca Raton’s Planning and Zoning Board is slated to vote on James and Marta Batmasian’s proposed Mizner Plaza development.
The Batmasians are seeking approval for a 12-story, 242-key hotel, 16,000 square feet of restaurant space, 18,840 square feet of retail space, and a reduced parking requirement, planning documents show. They are also seeking to purchase a 0.3-acre city-owned property that would be redeveloped as a park. The board will review plans for the mixed-use development at its meeting on Thursday.
Neighbors in the adjacent Tower 155 condo tower at 155 East Boca Raton Road are opposing the project, according to letters submitted to the planning board.
The City of Boca Raton’s staff recommended approval, planning documents show.
The project is planned for the 1.9-acre site at 132, 170 and 190 Northeast 2nd Street, the latter of which is the city-owned property. The Batmasians bought the 1-acre site at 132 Northeast 2nd Street for $400,000 in 1990, and it is currently a commercial retail strip. They bought the building at 170 Northeast 2nd Street for $4.2 million in 2013, which is occupied by the United States Postal Service.
The Batmasians first proposed the project as an 11-story, 266-room hotel in 2023. They are prolific real estate investors, operating under the banner of their Boca Raton-based Investments Limited. Their portfolio spans commercial and residential assets.
“[James Batmasian] is probably one of the most successful real estate investors that is not as well-known,” Butters Group President Malcolm Butters told The Real Deal in 2022.
In 2008, Batmasian pleaded guilty to evading $250,000 in payroll taxes and served an eight month prison sentence, for which he received a presidential pardon during Donald Trump’s first term.
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