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Living in Boca

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I know the mayor of Boca is trying to bring more and more of younger generation to the city along with more businesses that will draw in the younger generation to the city, but that takes time, and they still have that old money influence to deal with. Maybe some kind of tax break for recent graduates willing to start up a businesses or a to alumni coming back to the area. just a thought.
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USMCOWL said

I know the mayor of Boca is trying to bring more and more of younger generation to the city along with more businesses that will draw in the younger generation to the city
Posted On: Aug 19th 2016, 9:31 PM #357821

What is she doing? I am not doubting it, I just haven't heard anything…
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besides working with the university the newer construction downtown residential units. didnt i hear too, they were trying to encourage new businesses to come downtown.
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USMCOWL said

besides working with the university the newer construction downtown residential units. didnt i hear too, they were trying to encourage new businesses to come downtown.

Posted On: Aug 19th 2016, 10:26 PM #357824


What are they doing to work with the university? What businesses are they bringing in to appeal to the younger generation?

Apologies, I am totally lost here.
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I haven't heard much lately either.

Last thing I read was that 20th Street planning had been farmed out to the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council but I haven't found anything substantial on their website; they have budgetary documents showing the award and a charrette "in process". on the charrettes page it shows two listings, "Downtown Master Plan" and "North Federal Highway", which by the way can't be clicked on either.

There was some mention of Boca wanting to get back together with FAU about it but FAU had postponed the meeting. I don't know if they reconvened. Maybe they're waiting on the TCRPC to show the plan so they have something to talk about. This is an important project for the university community that's progressing slowly and I have a bad feeling about it.

Regarding downtown, there has been an explosion of new development and while students could technically live at some of the new places, they're not being built for students. Palmetto Promenade is $2000-4700/month, Boca City Walk is $1710-3565/month, Camden Apartments are $1619-2419/month, etc. I know it's new and "in the heart of downtown" - or what we call our downtown, so it can command those prices - but they're not exactly student-friendly prices.

Problem is it's all new development, and new development is going to trend towards "luxe" and be on the upper end for rent even in a 4 person suite. As these places get older and face more competition it'll probably come down but who knows how much. University Square is going for $940+ for a 2 bedroom and I'm pretty sure that's per person. That is 2-3x what you would pay in a lot of college towns for that unit.

I wish as part of the student housing classification there would be a price cap but that might stymie developer interest. Then again, not every new student complex needs a gym, business center, common room, pool, marble counter tops, etc like it's an upscale hotel. You know what students need? A safe place to put their stuff near campus. That's it. Anything else is a bonus. I've lived in plenty of communities that offer all that stuff. You maybe see 1 other person in the gym. Business center and common rooms are ghost towns. Pools are great but we live <2 miles from the ocean. It shouldn't be a factor. I just think there are ways to do this without charging $900-1200/student/room.

Regarding downtown businesses, there has certainly been a renewed effort to get better businesses downtown but it's a weird mix with not enough entertainment and nightlife options right now, as you guys know, because it's basically a bunch of industry and art galleries and upscale shopping that's slowly adopting bars and restaurants. But there's no nightclubs (unless you count Decades or Platforms or whatever the hell the old Scoop is called now), no karaoke bar, no 500-person concert venue to see up-and-coming bands, no line-dancing bar, no breweries downtown, etc. It's just not there yet for nightlife. If you find a cool place, you have to pretty much drive there and stay there. There's no "strip" yet. There's still a lot of work to be done there but the main people who are vocal at City Council meetings are older people who didn't attend FAU and they think the city is perfect just the way it is. Students very rarely show up. The university community in general rarely shows up unless they're invited.

That's why this is an uphill battle to change Boca Raton to be more favorable to college students.
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Boca does not want a "strip" downtown and never will.  The only chance at any type of strip is 20th street which I do believe will happen but like everything else Boca does it will be very calculated and take time.

Boca will never be a college town, real estate prices past that up a very long time ago but it can, should and will have a district at some point if for no other reason than to contain it.

GO OWLS!
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The prices of rent are more $$$ for students in Boca Raton.  But the trade off is, there are TONS of jobs serving tables/tending bar/etc where you can easily make $600-$800 per week.  Most college towns dont have the employment opportunities this area provides.  Its a trade off.

Teambeer is the most knowledgeable FAU sports fan I know, way smarter than me.
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That's a very good point, Walty12. Didn't think about that; all these upscale restaurants (and not even upscale per se since something like P.F. Changs and Stir Crazy can average $25-40/hr) do provide more income if you can get them.

Of course the tradeoff there is the more you work, the less you can study, so you may take fewer classes each semester to salvage your GPA and consequently you could argue that the high cost of living in Boca contributes to the poor 4 year graduation rate. I don't think anybody has official numbers on that though.
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owl2Doc said

That's a very good point, Walty12. Didn't think about that; all these upscale restaurants (and not even upscale per se since something like P.F. Changs and Stir Crazy can average $25-40/hr) do provide more income if you can get them.

Of course the tradeoff there is the more you work, the less you can study, so you may take fewer classes each semester to salvage your GPA and consequently you could argue that the high cost of living in Boca contributes to the poor 4 year graduation rate. I don't think anybody has official numbers on that though.
Posted On: Aug 20th 2016, 1:42 PM #357837

I think that is why students are complaining about the lack of things centered towards them in Boca. Someone mentioned there is no student presence or a university presence at City Council meetings. I think to truly try to accomadate everyone, some of our students need to go to these meetings and voice their concerns or ideas. Nothing will happen unless you speak up.
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