A LESSON FROM MIZNER PARK: WHY WE SHOULDN’T LEASE OUR PUBLIC LAND
Over the last many months, the mayor and Miami developers have teamed up to sell us the Boca Raton City Center downtown project by likening it to the “success” of Mizner Park. Mizner Park—also a 99-year lease to a developer—was a bad deal from the very beginning and has ended up costing the taxpayers hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars.
The City of Boca recently lost a lawsuit to the current lessee of the property that likely cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars. The lessee, who currently has an exercisable buy-back option on the land, sued the City to get the fair market value of the property down by saying the lease—the very one that they themselves hold—“encumbered” the property and made it less valuable. The City lost the lawsuit in court, appealed the decision, and lost again on appeal.
The project was pitched to the taxpayers at the start that it would be a park and cultural center. A bait and switch ensued and the project became a development of apartments, retail and office buildings.
Tom Crocker, a developer, bought the Mizner Park land for $28.5M in June, 1988 and within a year flipped the land to the CRA for what was estimated to be $40.5M. Tom Crocker pocketed a quick $12M or even more off of the taxpayers right from the beginning. The City of Boca took out a $68M bond on the project and it’s possible the final purchase price to Crocker was even higher.
Mizner Park revenues to the city over the lease have been a small fraction of what was anticipated—and at some points it was unclear if the city would even be able to stay afloat on their bond payments. Several years into the lease, things were so bad that bond payments were being made from a city “reserve account” and discussions were being had to raise utility taxes on residents to finance future bond payments.
The centerpiece fountain of Mizner Park wrapped in caution tape. Photo taken today, Feb 10th. It has been under construction for most of this season.
The Mizner Park development is a valuable lesson in why the taxpayers should not be leasing our public land to developers. The Mayor and City Council always refer to Boca Raton City Center LLC as our “partner,” in the same way that the lessee of Mizner Park was. Yet once given a stake on our public land, these acclaimed “partners” won’t hesitate to change course and seek to extract as much money as possible from the taxpayers. What will stop Boca Raton City Center LLC from suing us in the future to gain further advantage? With the case just won against the City, the lessee is now flipping the Mizner Park lease to a new buyer at a quick and massive profit. There is only one loser in all of this: We the taxpayers.
Don’t let another developer get the best of us and rip us off. We must shut the door now before it's too late. VOTE NO on the 99 Year Lease!
CLICK ABOVE TO WATCH: Save Boca founder and city council candidate Jon Pearlman spoke yesterday about why Mizner Park was a bad deal for the taxpayers and why it's a lesson not to lease city-owned land.