Boca Raton council set to review expanded Bocora apartment project after board approval

Brandon Schaad, Development Services Director at City of Boca Raton - Linkedin
Brandon Schaad, Development Services Director at City of Boca Raton - Linkedin
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Brandon Schaad, Development Services Director at City of Boca Raton - Linkedin
Brandon Schaad, Development Services Director at City of Boca Raton - Linkedin

A joint venture between Beztak and Wexford Real Estate has received approval from Boca Raton’s Planning and Zoning Board to expand its apartment development in the Amtec Center business park. The project, known as Bocora, will add 21 apartments, a fitness center, and a private school to the original plans for an eight-story, 277-unit building at 6401 to 6421 Congress Avenue.

The expansion proposal will next go before the Boca Raton City Council for a vote. As part of the deal for additional units, the developers have agreed to reserve four apartments for affordable housing and provide a 2,086-square-foot fitness facility. The city’s commercial industrial multifamily development (CIMD) ordinance allows such requests in light-industrial zones if developers include attainable housing and new retail.

Amtec Center’s owners are also seeking conditional use approval for a 2,000-square-foot school that would accommodate up to 100 students within an existing office building on site. This would allow Xceed Preparatory Academy, which currently operates a hybrid tutoring facility there, to accept school vouchers. “It’s a small boutique gym. Most of them don’t have staff at all,” said Ele Zachariades, attorney for the project.

Jon Ounjian, who owns an office building north of Amtec Center, opposed adding more units due to concerns about increased traffic unless changes such as a new turn lane are implemented.

Some board members expressed concern that the planned fitness center might serve only residents while being counted toward required retail space under CIMD rules. “All these apartments that are going up [have] no retail, so every time someone wants a cup of coffee or breakfast or something, they are leaving the site,” said board member Timothy Dornblaser.

Brandon Schaad, Boca Raton’s development services director, explained that the fitness center must be open to the public and staffed at least 60 hours per week by an independent operator. Otherwise, developers could face fines or legal action from the city. “Unstaffed commercial gyms are a real thing in the world, but I’m not familiar with them,” Schaad said.

Beztak is led by Sam Beznos; Wexford is led by Joseph Jacobs and Philip Braunstein. They announced Bocora soon after Beztak acquired part of Amtec Center in late 2021 for $12.7 million from Catexor—a company headed by Stig and Britt Wennerstrom—which still owns most of the remaining land in Amtec Center.

Development activity remains strong in Boca Raton. In July 2025, Related Group bought ten acres of Office Depot Campus for $50 million as part of plans with PEBB Enterprises and BH Group to redevelop it into mixed-use property including apartments and retail space (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/07/10/related-pebb-bh-group-pay-50m-for-office-depot-campus-in-boca-raton/). That same month saw Group P6 and Mill Creek Residential win approval for another large apartment complex downtown (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/07/25/group-p6-mill-creek-residential-score-approval-for-boca-raton-apartment-project/). In August 2025, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints paid $152.5 million for Del Ola apartment complex (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/08/14/church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-pays-153m-for-del-ola-apartments-in-boca-raton/) while James and Marta Batmasians secured planning board support for a hotel near Mizner Park (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/08/30/batmasians-win-planning-board-backing-for-hotel-near-mizner-park-in-boca-raton/).

There has been growing resident opposition to some projects; last month citizens gathered thousands of signatures seeking a referendum on Terra Group and Frisbie Group’s proposed large-scale project on public land (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/08/28/opponents-of-terra-frisbie-public-land-project-gather-signatures-to-force-referendum-in-boca-raton//).

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