A 12-story, 242-room hotel is proposed to be built in downtown Boca Raton and, if approved, would replace the city’s “pink plaza” and post office.
The possible Mizner Plaza Hotel could be located along Northeast Second Street directly south of Mizner Park. If approved, the hotel would replace the retail strip and post office at the current Mizner Plaza with new shops and restaurants. The hotel project also would have a “pocket park,” which is a small green space.
“I demand pocket parks because what do all great cities have in common? And that is pocket parks,” said Ele Zachariades, a planning lawyer with Miskel Backman, during a recent planning and zoning board meeting. Zachariades is representing the project.
Boca Raton already has nearly 20 hotels in the city, according to tourism nonprofit Discover the Palm Beaches. This includes The Boca Raton, a historical resort.
According to documents from Miskel Backman: “The entire development was created and envisioned for a true world-class experience and to provide the City of Boca Raton with an iconic, one-of-a-kind development. This project will become the new standard for development in our great City of Boca Raton, elevating the city.”
However, the proposed hotel’s proximity to Tower 155, a luxury condo building, is generating concerns from some of the people who live there, such as obstructing views and increasing traffic in the area. According to city documents, the hotel could bring about 1,400 new traffic trips to the area.
“I think this big and beautiful hotel, it is all wrong for this parcel of land. It is too big,” Tower 155 resident Jeanette Oren said during the recent planning and zoning board meeting.
The hotel “is too close to Tower 155,” Oren said, adding that she and her husband moved there for “the light,” “the air” and “the community.”
If built as is, Oren said she believes the hotel “will create a canyon effect, and there will be increased noise and pollution.”
A nearly two acre parcel of land from 132-190 NE 2nd Street in downtown Boca Raton that includes a post office is the proposed site of the 12-story, 242-room Mizner Plaza Hotel seen on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Zachariades said the building was intentionally designed to maximize views for Tower 155 residents.
“I do appreciate that there will be some views obstructed, but we are in a downtown,” she said during the meeting. “Views are not protected, full stop. They are not, but we have done everything, everything, to ensure that as many views that we can continue to have for Tower 155 we would have.”
While it is far too early to say what tenants will occupy the retail and restaurant spaces of the potential hotel, Zachariades said she is confident new homes will be found for the current Mizner Plaza tenants.
The planning and zoning board members unanimously recommended the project for approval.
Board member Timothy Dornblaser said while he appreciated the concerns brought forth about the hotel, he pointed out how he has heard similar opposition to other proposed projects in the city.
“I’m not discounting your comments, but it is the same complaints other residents made about (Tower 155),” he said during the meeting. “I do think it is a beautiful-looking building. Mizner needs something. Mizner, despite what everybody may think, has got a lot of problems. It needs some redevelopment. It needs some revitalization, and part of me looks and wonders if this is something that will help with that.”
The hotel will next be presented before the City Council, but a date has not yet been determined.
According to a statement from United States Postal Service, there are no plans to relocate the downtown Boca Raton post office “at this time.” Because the Mizner Plaza hotel is a proposed development, additional details are not yet available.
A nearly two acre parcel of land from 132-190 NE 2nd Street in downtown Boca Raton that includes a city-owned parking lot, a post office and the Mizner Plaza shopping center, is the proposed site of the 12-story, 242-room Mizner Plaza Hotel seen on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
