Boca Raton, Florida

• 1. The Architect's Grand Design

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  Addison Mizner arrived in the area during 1925 with a vision to create the foremost resort city on the North American continent. He announced plans for what he called a new exclusive social capital in America. The Mizner Development Corporation issued five million dollars of stock, which was fully subscribed in less than one week. Wealthy investors like Lytle Hall and Harold Vanderbilt purchased shares alongside noted personages such as the Duchess of Sutherland. Mizner intended to build El Camino Real as a twenty-lane wide circular road with a lagoon for pleasure boats running through its center. He claimed the design was inspired by Botafogo, a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, though he had never visited that country. Only half a mile of the street was ever constructed, and the central canal was never built at all. His first buildings included administrative offices and a small hotel for interested investors. The Cloister Inn opened in 1926 and later became the Boca Raton Resort & Club. It remains one of only two five-star hotels in Florida today. The pink tower added to the hotel in 1969 is visible from miles away along the Intracoastal Waterway. The land boom ended abruptly after the 1926 Miami hurricane caused the development company to go bankrupt in 1927. Little of Mizner's original vision was ever realized beyond his initial structures.

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• 2. War And Silicon Roots

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  During World War II, the United States military established the Boca Raton Army Air Field on land previously used by Japanese farmers of the Yamato Colony. This facility served as a major training ground for B-29 bomber crews and the only location in the nation training radar operators. Many parking lots at Florida Atlantic University now sit atop former runways of this airbase. IBM announced its intention to open a manufacturing plant in the area during the late 1960s. The corporation quietly purchased several hundred acres west of the CSX rail line before the extension of Interstate 95 reached Southern Florida. Construction of the main complex began in 1967 under the design of architect Marcel Breuer. The campus featured self-sufficiency with its own electrical substation and water pumping station. By 1984, IBM employed eight thousand five hundred people within Boca Raton limits. The main complex became the birthplace of the IBM PC, which later evolved into the Personal System/2. Starting in 1987, IBM relocated its manufacturing division to Research Triangle Park in Raleigh, North Carolina. The facilities were converted into offices producing products like the OS/2 operating system. Bill Gates signed his historic deal to supply Microsoft MS-DOS at an office table still standing inside the old IBM complex. The site was sold to Blue Lake Real Estate in 1996 and renamed the Boca Corporate Center. Crocker Partners purchased the property in April 2018 as the Boca Raton Innovation Campus.

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• 3. Malls And Mansions

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  The downtown outdoor shopping center Mizner Park opened in 1991 over the site of the old Boca Raton Mall. It features a landscaped central park between two main roads called Plaza Real with stores located only on the outside edges. An amphitheater replaced a smaller venue in 2002 to provide large-capacity outdoor performance space. Town Center at Boca Raton became the geographic center of West Boca Raton during the 1980s and 1990s. This mall is the third largest by square feet in South Florida behind Sawgrass Mills and Aventura Mall. Forbes ranked Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club as the third most exclusive gated community in the United States in 2017. Eighteen point one percent of homes for sale fall within the six hundred fifty-five thousand dollar range. Eight point five percent of properties sit between nine hundred sixty-six thousand dollars and one point two eight eight million dollars. Eleven point nine percent of listings exceed one point two eight eight million dollars. The city maintains strict development codes regarding commercial building sizes and advertising signs. Major thoroughfares lack billboards due to these regulations, creating increased green spaces along roads. On November second, 2004, voters approved annexation into city limits for several associations including Via Verde and Waterside. This action increased the total land area of the municipality significantly.

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• 4. A Wealthy And Diverse Community

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  The population reached ninety-seven thousand four hundred twenty-two people according to the 2020 census. This figure made it the twenty-third-largest city in Florida during 2022. Seventy percent of residents identified as White non-Hispanic in that same year. Fifteen point two percent of the population was Hispanic or Latino. Five point three percent were Black or African American non-Hispanic. Three point three percent identified as Asian American non-Hispanic. Twenty-one point one percent of the population was foreign-born. English only speakers comprised seventy-five percent of households. Spanish or Spanish Creole speakers accounted for ten point nine percent of homes. French or Haitian Creole represented two point three percent of language use. The median household income stood at forty-six thousand thirty-three dollars between 2017 and 2021. Poverty rates sat at nine point two percent within the city limits. The average number of persons per household was exactly two. Ages sixty-five and older comprised twenty-three point one percent of the total population. Median age across all demographics measured forty-five point four years. Certain areas outside city limits like Sandalfoot Cove have significant populations of Brazilian and other Latino immigrants.

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• 5. Campuses And Cultural Hubs

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  Florida Atlantic University held its first classes in Boca Raton during 1964 after being founded in 1961. Over twenty-nine thousand students attend this institution today including three thousand five hundred fifty-five residential students. Lynn University offers bachelor's and master's degrees through its Digital Media Arts College established in 2001. Palm Beach State College maintains a campus adjacent to Florida Atlantic University since 1983. Everglades University has its main campus located directly within the city boundaries. Don Estridge High Tech Middle School serves as a technology magnet school named for the engineer who developed the IBM Personal Computer. The Boca Raton Bowl is an NCAA sanctioned Division I college football game featuring teams from the Mid-American Conference. St. Mark Greek Orthodox Church hosts a popular festival attracting estimated fifteen thousand attendees annually. The Festival of the Arts BOCA occurs every spring while the Brazilian Beat Festival takes place each fall. The Boca Raton Museum of Art moved to a new facility inside Mizner Park in 2001. The Wick Theatre & Costume Museum resides within the city limits alongside numerous small cultural institutions. Old Floresta Historic District contains several historic houses listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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• 6. Politics And Public Safety

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  The City of Boca Raton operates under a Council-Manager form of government with nonpartisan offices. George Long served as mayor from 1924 until 1925 when the town was first incorporated. Susan Haynie held office from 2014 through 2018 before being suspended by Governor Rick Scott on April twenty-seventh, 2018. She pleaded guilty to two counts involving corruption and bribery charges. Scott Singer was appointed mayor following her suspension and won the August twenty-eighth special election outright. Crime rates in Boca Raton remain thirty-eight percent lower than the entire state of Florida average. Several murders at Town Center Mall gained national attention during 2007 including the kidnapping and murder of a fifty-two-year-old woman. A forty-seven-year-old woman and her seven-year-old daughter were found bound and shot in their SUV later that year. These cases featured on America's Most Wanted but remain unsolved without forensic evidence linking them. The Pearl City neighborhood has historically been known as a drug trafficking hub. Heroin and opioid overdoses have experienced steady rises in recent years alongside neighboring Delray Beach. As of end 2019, crime rates had decreased twenty-six percent over the preceding thirteen years.

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