Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Skip navigation

FAU Diehard Blog - FAU development, news, rumors and photos

Add topic

Post

IF these get developed and IF 20th St. development happens, the area around campus will be a great vibrant area!

Here is to hoping they do!!!!!!!!!
Back to the top

Post

a couple questions? One, do you see any objections from local residents to the project, or could try and block it from development in the future? I know some residents are still not too happy with the proposal for the area especially around the university? And two where do you see that shopping plaza heading in the future? Last time I was down there it was undergoing a massive facelift?
Back to the top

Post

USMCOWL said

a couple questions? One, do you see any objections from local residents to the project, or could try and block it from development in the future? I know some residents are still not too happy with the proposal for the area especially around the university?

Yes. The residents already objected to the University Village project for a long time. The city meeting for its approval went on until like 1 am, residents were heard, changes were made, and the project ultimately got approved. Not everybody is happy with that; unsurprisingly the people who were most opposed to it lived in the neighborhood next to it.

I think eventually the people there will love it. I often say that the developers of Mizner Park would go through absolute hell trying to get it approved today yet everybody uses it and they call it the jewel of downtown or whatever.

People will come around.

There are two inevitabilities for this city: it's going to get more dense and (as a direct result of that) it's going to have more traffic. And that would probably happen regardless of FAU - the changes downtown are causing that and have nothing to do with FAU. But that's what happens when you create a city that's highly-desirable to live in because it's clean, safe and well-manicured with good schools, nice parks, and a very prolific restaurant scene.

More people want to live here now and they just can't because either the housing that is here is too expensive or there isn't enough housing in general. In fact Corvue Holdings, which is developing the student housing project next to campus at 2600 NW 5th, notes on their website that the project is in the "extremely high-barrier-to-entry market of Boca Raton."

East Boca just doesn't have space, so expect it to start going more vertical in the future. The older residents will fight that tooth and nail. The younger residents, the young professionals and the college students, will be fine with it provided there's a much better public transportation system than there is right now.

USMCOWL said

And two where do you see that shopping plaza heading in the future? Last time I was down there it was undergoing a massive facelift?
Posted On: Apr 25th 2017, 12:05 AM #368517

The Shoppes at University Park on 20th St is undergoing that facelift because they're now owned and managed by Investments Limited, who owns like half of Boca and knows what they're doing.

The facade changed, new paint, entrance and roadways were re-done, new sign. It looks nicer than it did but they have been slower than I expected to fill up the spaces; they still have open spaces and the price per square foot is lower than several other places in Boca, so what is the hold-up? Location?

There is an opening in the fence near the adjacent University Park complex for students to come into there… but the question remains of why would they? What's there for them? The gym?

The plaza lacks what they call an anchor tenant - the main draw. For example, Publix is the anchor tenant for the 5th Avenue Shoppes and Barnes & Nobles is the anchor tenant for University Commons. Right now the closest thing to do that concept would be the gym, and sure it's a nice gym, but again gyms are "exclusive" places with membership fees, so it's not REALLY a suitable anchor tenant.

You're not going to get a Publix, Target, Best Buy in there. Not in its current setup. You'd have to gut that whole space and start again, plus they'd have to want to be there when the traffic on 20th is not even great enough to interest It's Owl Time to move over there.

You might be able to get an Aldi, a Starbucks, maybe a Dollar Tree in there. That would draw initial interest. I actually thought Funky Buddha would do well in the former Schnellenberger spot; they don't have nearly enough room at their Federal Highway location for how popular they are. THAT would be a cool draw, especially if you could pair it up with a late night pizza-by-the-slice place nearby in the complex, but again they would have a very good reason to move over there.

You put in Funky Buddha, late night pizza, Starbucks, Aldi and a Dollar Tree there, and suddenly you've got multiple reasons for students to go there. It's finally "alive".

So either they're going to really get it going in the next year or two or they're going to have to start a conversation about whether the plaza in its current form is the best use for the (significant) land, vs, say, another student housing complex. I think the former is still the more likely scenario, however.
Back to the top

Post

New blog entry: "Notes from the University District Visioning Summit Report (2oth Street update)"

Findings from the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council on the FAU/Boca relationship, challenges/opportunities, student housing, transportation and more.

No new renderings, mostly just text, but gives you a "status report" of where we are and where we need to go next.
Back to the top

Post

Nice blog post as always, Lots of effort and good constructive commentary!

Being a former "Urban and Regional Planner" with my degree from FAU, always am VERY interested in the developments in the area. And pulling for FAU and Boca to continue to be progressive and grow!

I was a100% commuter from Lauderdale but wish I could have lived on campus! Even in the very small limited ways that was offered in the late 70"s.
Back to the top

Post

very good entry. So we are thinking the city and the university will get together to discuss and plan everything once the final analysis and plan is presented to the city council by the treasure coast regional planning counsel presents it to the city council?
Back to the top

Post

GeorgiaOwl said

I was a 100% commuter from Lauderdale but wish I could have lived on campus! Even in the very small limited ways that was offered in the late 70"s.
Posted On: Apr 25th 2017, 3:25 PM #368524

I commuted from Delray exclusively to FAU during my tenure there but I had friends who lived on-campus so I spent many a night in IRT, HPT, and UVA.

GPT and HPT I wouldn't recommend. Too cramped, cold, sterile, limited, wonky cell phone reception.

IRT and UVA I would. Any place without a living room space should be an immediate no-go.

Back to the top

Post

FAU Diehard Blog - FAU development, news, rumors and photos

USMCOWL said

very good entry. So we are thinking the city and the university will get together to discuss and plan everything once the final analysis and plan is presented to the city council by the treasure coast regional planning counsel presents it to the city council?
Posted On: Apr 25th 2017, 8:21 PM #368526

That's the dream. But if history repeats itself, Boca may be the one running the show because FAU doesn't meet with them often enough.

Hopefully a formal membership of the Town-Gown Association will change that, setup a regular meeting schedule, and hopefully FAU will show up with concrete plans on what they want to see.

For instance, FAU wants to be "embedded" in the University District - what does that entail, exactly? What's the scope? If you want an officw for academic advising or an off-campus police station, great; is FAU going to pay for the construction or simply be a tenant? Questions like that.

I was thinking about that last night… we talk a lot about what sort of nightlife or restaurants 20th Street might have, but should and could it become an extension of campus in that way, with the uses I just mentioned, greek life meeting space, maybe even classrooms?

That's definitely worth talking about. Yes, there's room for that on-campus, but that space isn't going anywhere. 20th may not be there if FAU doesn't act and the spaceis gobbled up by non-academic uses like a Starbucks or Five Below or MetroPCS store.
Back to the top

Post

Owl2Doc said

New blog entry: "Notes from the University District Visioning Summit Report (2oth Street update)"

Findings from the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council on the FAU/Boca relationship, challenges/opportunities, student housing, transportation and more.

No new renderings, mostly just text, but gives you a "status report" of where we are and where we need to go next.
Posted On: Apr 25th 2017, 9:52 AM #368522
     Owl2Doc, I will probably have to start reading your blog posts a lot more. It has really good quality ideas that can be adapted to FAU. I was a member of the Boca Raton House of Representatives last spring and some of the concepts that you mentioned from the past, like a skate park back in 2012, can very easily be paid for by FAU Student Government, especially nowadays. I am also fortunate enough to have some SG connections, and will definitely advocate for these initiatives throughout this next year. I would also encourage you to connect with the FAU Ideas Twitter account (@FAU_Ideas) and myself to collaborate on getting some of these great ideas done.

     As for 20th Street, the City of Boca Raton's City Council Workshop is currently scheduled for Monday May 22 at 1:30 pm after the CRA meeting inside the Council Chamber at the Boca Raton City Hall (201 W Palmetto Park Rd, Boca Raton, FL 33432), with a regular City Council meeting scheduled on Tuesday May 23 at 6:00 pm. If any of you are able to attend either of these meetings and if you have a passion for the growth and development of FAU and its community, I would highly encourage you to attend one or possibly both of this meetings, especially if you are a student, alumni, resident, and/or business owner in Boca Raton. It would also be great if some people would willing to speak during Public Requests about the positive impact the development of 20th Street would have on both FAU and the City. (The city council has a time limit of 5 minutes and no speaking on land use matters which would require a hearing.) It would be great for FAU students, alumni, and community members be able to fill this meeting and show support for the growth and development of the historic entrance corridor of the university "Where Tomorrow Begins." I'll upload the agenda as the time comes closer to verify this information. 

Revolution- n. A large amount of change in a short amount of time.   FAU- n. The place where tomorrow begins.
Back to the top

Post

One in the same, my friend. The Diehard blog is my long-form, Ideas is my short-form.
Back to the top
Control functions: