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ONCE SCORNED, MIZNER PARK NOW CITY’S PRIDE

By Susan Thorne

The mixed-use center has revitalized Boca Raton and spurred further development, proving skeptics wrong.

When it first opened its doors to shoppers in Boca Raton, Fla., in 1989, Mizner Park represented an unusual phenomenon for the time: a mixed-use retail development undertaken jointly by the public and private sectors. This type of project was so novel and untested that the city of Boca Raton, one of the development partners, had to offer extra security to investors, and the center was initially unable to attract national retailers. But, now in its second decade, it is not only demonstrating staying power, but also gaining in vitality, with new tenants and cultural attractions.

Named for prominent Florida resort architect Addison Mizner (1872-1933), who brought Mediterranean influences to Florida architecture, Mizner Park is a lifestyle center combining office, residential and retail/cultural uses. Laid out in an open-air, central plaza configuration, it has a landscaped common area park decorated with fountains and two gazebos; two-story brick structures surround this piazza, giving the whole complex a downtown streetscape look. The center’s design and overall concept earned it a Sierra Club award for smart growth in November 2000.

Besides 235,000 square feet of retail, Mizner Park comprises 272 apartment units and 103,000 square feet of office space. The Centre for the Arts, including the Boca Raton Museum of Art and an amphitheater, is at the north end.

The retail component, anchored by a Jacobson’s department store, is attracting increasing interest from national tenants and now boasts Ann Taylor Loft, Chico’s, French shoe chain Mephisto and Starbucks. Tommy Bahama became a tenant of a 4,000-square-foot space in 2001, and one of the first North American outlets of Douglas Cosmetics, the leading European fragrance and cosmetics retailer, opened in the center this year.

These new additions mark a big change from the center’s early days, when major retail chains regarded Mizner Park with skepticism and the center was obliged to rely on local and regional tenants.

“When we first opened, the nationals wouldn’t give us the time of day,” said Joanne Root, Mizner Park’s marketing director. “There were too many unknowns for them. We were in the east of town, not the west; it was a public-private project; and it was a mixed-use project at a time when nationals weren’t committing to those types of scheme — they were still mall-based.” An exception was Morrison’s, which leased space for a Ruby Tuesday and an L&N Seafood restaurant.

Even though Mizner Park has a strong complement of nationals today, it still aims for a high proportion of locals and regionals, in part because tourists make up about a third of shoppers, and Root feels that these visitors want something different from the retail offerings in their malls at home. One example of a new regional retailer is Sloan’s ice cream, a Florida-based concept featuring 40 flavors of ice cream and sorbet. Sunrise Cinemas, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has taken over a former eight-screen AMC theater to create an independent and foreign-film cinema. Two other new tenants are adding a European flair: La Maison du Soleil, a purveyor of Provençal-style linens and home accessories, and Femme Coiffure European Spa. Caviarteria, a caviar bar and retail store, is another out-of-the-ordinary offering.

Occupancy has been high throughout the center’s history, Root said, standing now at about 96 percent, with rents at $50 per square foot. Twenty of the original 50 tenants are still in place.

The retail component of Mizner Park benefits from synergies with the other facilities in the center. Entertainment and special events are scheduled at the amphitheater three nights per week on average, and there are frequent opportunities for cross-promotion between cultural and retail tenants, Root said. A recent promotion called Latin Flair, for example, featured a reception at the art museum with tapas and sangria, plus a tango performance; the events tied in with a showing of the film “Tango Lesson” at the Mizner Park Cinema.

Public-private collaboration and mixed-use centers have become commonplace for many downtown development projects in the 1990s, but Mizner Park’s history is a reminder that this has not always been so. It took persistence and determination on the part of a forward-looking city government to realize this project, officials say. What makes it even more striking is Boca Raton’s conservative track record on development.

“Boca has always been different,” said Root. “As soon as you come into town off the federal highway, you can see it’s special from the tidiness, the landscaping.” The small Atlantic Coast city (population: 70,000; average household income: $50,000) was notorious in the 1970s for a landmark legal battle concerning residential development limitation that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Boca Raton’s strict signage code has prevented McDonald’s from erecting its trademark golden arches.

Local residents have the power to stop development projects by collecting the signatures of 15 percent of voters. This method was used in the early 1980s to quash a city-backed mall proposal called the Barbar Financial Center.

“Things weren’t looking good for downtown Boca Raton after that nosedive,” said Jorge Camejo, director of the city’s Development Services Department and of the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). A key problem, as the CRA saw it, was Boca Raton’s lack of a central focus. Stretched out along roadways at the intersection of U.S. Highway 1 and Interstate 95, the 344-acre community didn’t really have a downtown worthy of the name, and its central core needed a counterbalance to a new regional mall, Town Center at Boca Raton, just outside the city limits. “We needed a place where people would meet and gather, and a place where people would invest, too,” Camejo said.

The city went back to the drawing board and commissioned an architect and planner to prepare a plan for a more dynamic downtown. A scheme for a mixed-use project combining arts and culture with commercial uses was decided on, and locally-based Crocker Downtown Development Associates entered into a leaseback agreement with the city to develop the center. A $68 million bond issue supported by tax increment financing was struck, but it had to be backed by the city’s guarantee to satisfy investors, Camejo said.

Despite these hurdles, the project appeared to meet a heavy demand, as 80 percent of its residential units were leased well in advance. “We knew it was a home run right from the start,” Camejo said.

Mizner Park’s subsequent success is credited with the substantial increase in the city’s tax rolls, which have grown in valuation from $150 million to more than $350 million since its opening. The center has also been a catalyst for other local development. Two new office buildings, for example, have recently been completed downtown, and there are 900 new housing units under construction.

Mizner Park continues to renew itself. The improved amphitheater at the Centre for the Arts will feature a two-level arcade and lawn seating. Completion of the new facility is set for November. Addison Mizner would be proud.

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