Related Ross Buys BRiC, Eyes ‘Mini City’ for Boca’s Brutalist Icon
One of South Florida’s most prolific developers has set its sights on Boca Raton. Related Ross recently closed on the 120-plus-acre Boca Raton Innovation Campus, known locally as BRiC, for an undisclosed sum, with plans to transform the sprawling office park into a self-contained “mini city.” The deal marks the firm’s first successful foothold in the Boca market, following an earlier, unsuccessful bid to redevelop the city’s now-defunct city hall project. BRiC carries a notable history of its own. Built in 1970, the campus once served as IBM’s research and development hub, the site where the first personal computer for IBM was developed before the tech giant departed in the late 1990s. Today it stands as one of the region’s most recognizable examples of Brutalist architecture, a legacy now weighed against the developer’s redevelopment plans. What’s Planned Under the current proposal, the campus’s distinctive Y-shaped wing, wrapped around a circular reflecting pool, would be spared the wrecking ball, while large stretches of the property’s rectangular section would come down. The office portion is set to stay in use, a decision made easier by two recent tenants already signed on: D-Wave Quantum, which plans to relocate its headquarters from Palo Alto to the Boca campus by year’s end, and financial technology giant Fiserv, which is also planting its flag on the site. To fund the acquisition and redevelopment, Related Ross secured nearly $300 million in financing from Ares Real Estate, a global investment company. The property also came with entitlements already in place, thanks to groundwork laid by former owner CP Group (among other partners), which teamed up with Terra Group in 2025. Back in 2023, CP Group secured zoning approval for a hefty buildout: as many as 1,243 residential units, a 140-room hotel, 125,000 square feet of retail, 85,000 square feet of medical office space, and a 55,000-square-foot entertainment venue. Those entitlements, though, only cover half the map. They apply strictly to the parking lots ringing the site, not to the rectangular western stretch of the property where personal computers were once assembled. Related Ross wants to level large portions of that section too, but hasn’t yet cleared the approval hurdles needed to do it. The full build-out is expected to unfold over several years and multiple phases. But Related Ross is thinking long-term, drawing comparisons to West Palm Beach’s transformation into a quietly emerging financial powerhouse. The developer’s broader ambition is for Boca Raton to follow a similar trajectory, positioning the city as a tech hub in its own right. “BRiC changed the course of technology once before for the region, and it will play an important role in what comes next,” said Stephen Ross in a press release. Fears of Preservation Amid Development Not everyone is sold on the plan. Sharon Geltner, a guest columnist for the Palm Beach Post for instance, argues that saving the building alone misses the point, insisting that the land around it carries just as much weight as the structure itself: “destroying the historical setting destroys the place. The setting is as important as the buildings. You need both.” Boca Raton does have steps in place to shield its history. Any property with formal historic designation must clear a Certificate of Appropriateness before facing exterior changes or demolition. The trouble is that protection never activates until a property earns that designation in the first place, and despite being old enough to meet that threshold, BRiC has never been formally designated. That leaves it legally defenseless against demolition or wholesale redevelopment, in spite of architectural significance by famous architects Marcel Breuer and Robert Gatje. Boca isn’t the only one at the crossroads between preservation and development, however. Floridian Development has documented similar standoffs unfolding in Miami Beach, where a string of historic properties face the bulldozer as the city’s Art Deco identity butts heads with the state’s appetite for denser housing. Two pieces of legislation are pouring fuel on that fire: the Live Local Act and a 2024 law that loosens demolition rules for coastal buildings, both of which critics say could hand developers a shortcut around local historic review entirely. A public records request has been filed with the City of Boca Raton regarding specifics of the BRiC redevelopment plans. This article will be updated as more information becomes available.
El-Ad Properties Proposes North Bay Village’s Tallest Building Yet at 7931 East Drive
North Bay Village is being pushed to new heights, quite literally. Yesterday, El-Ad Properties, a subsidiary of the national real estate developer El-Ad Group, proposed plans for two towering condo towers along the city’s East Drive corridor: one rising 39 stories and the other 46 stories. Designed by ODP Architecture and Garcia Stromberg, the development would feature the tallest building ever constructed in the city if the plans materialize, a sign that developers have quickly begun to see the potential of this quaint island town. Located at 7922 East Drive and 7925-7931 East Drive, the development would span five properties, three of which are currently vacant grass lots while the other two are home to low-rise residential buildings. El-Ad Properties has already purchased the vacant properties, but the two residential buildings remain under different ownership. They are owned by Luis Navas, who originally sold the three grass lots to El-Ad last year for more than $19 million. Given that the two entities have already worked together before, the remaining lots will likely switch hands soon. According to plans submitted to Miami-Dade County, the development would feature 165 units, ranging from one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom and four-bedroom residences. The units would be “family” oriented, with the smallest residence measuring 1,238 square feet. To achieve this density across the property, the development team utilized multiple mechanisms, among the most important being the purchase of 27 allowable units from the city to achieve the project’s final density. Residents would have access to a wide variety of amenities, including a private drop-off zone, a pool and various indoor amenity spaces. Across the street, a clubhouse would provide even more amenities, including a fitness center, spa, sunbathing areas, outdoor terrace space and other uses. Meanwhile, the ground floor would introduce a significant amount of public-facing space to the development. Plans call for 5,295 square feet of restaurant space facing the water, alongside a large, expansive island walk, also known as a baywalk. On the northern portion of the site, more than 10,000 square feet of landscaped park space would be provided, equipped with a yoga lawn, mini amphitheater and other event spaces. To handle demand from the residences, restaurant space and other uses, the development would include 427 parking spaces. Those familiar with zoning in North Bay Village would immediately flag the proposed height of the development as non-compliant. In fact, the towers would rise far beyond the maximum height currently allowed. Hence, the development team is proposing a SAP, or Special Area Plan, which would allow the project to achieve substantially greater height and density than otherwise permitted. Specifically, the shorter tower would rise 465 feet, while the tallest tower would reach 518 feet. Mechanical levels would bring the taller structure to roughly 540 feet. If constructed as proposed, it would become not only the tallest building in the city, but also the tallest building in Miami-Dade County outside of Miami and Miami Beach. Architecturally, both towers would feature floor-to-ceiling windows, facades largely composed of glass, glass balconies, curving forms and beige stucco. The podium would also incorporate a living green wall and ventilated aluminum screening, adding a different material treatment to the base of the otherwise glass-heavy towers. While a timeline for the development has not been revealed, that is likely because approvals will take some time. Before construction can begin, the developer will need approval for the development from both the county and city, as well as approval of the Special Area Plan being proposed to achieve the towers’ height. Once the project does break ground, however, construction would take place across three phases. The tallest structure would rise first, followed by the second tower, while the third and final phase would consist of the clubhouse across the street.