Weeks after the Boca Raton City Council agreed to wait for a voter referendum on Terra and Frisbie Group’s proposed government campus redevelopment, the battle over the project is heating up.
Local attorney Ned Kimmelman filed suit against Save Boca, the group leading opposition to the project, and its founder, Jon Pearlman, earlier this week. The suit, filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, seeks an emergency injunction to invalidate the petitions circulated by Save Boca in the referendum efforts, filings show. Save Boca collected 7,000 signed petitions opposing the project.
In the suit, Kimmelman, a Boca Raton resident, accuses Save Boca and Pearlman of spreading misinformation to “induce people/voters to sign the petition.”
“Save Boca and Pearlman are conducting an audacious scheme to evade Florida law and abuse our electoral process in Palm Beach County and the City,” the suit alleges. Save Boca and Pearlman are seeking an amendment to Boca Raton’s city charter that would prevent the council from selling or leasing land greater than half an acre, something the suit says would cause an “unworkable, very expensive” government crisis.
Kimmelman could not be immediately reached for comment. Pearlman also did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
The government campus redevelopment proposal at the heart of the issue is called One Boca, led by David Martin’s Terra and the Frisbie family’s namesake Frisbie Group. It is slated to include city offices, apartments, condos and retail on public land in downtown Boca Raton. This would include redeveloping the existing city hall at 201 West Palmetto Road. The proposal includes a 99-year lease of public land to Terra and Frisbie.
At a Sept. 9 meeting, the city council voted to delay approval of the project’s 99-year land lease until after a voter referendum on the project. Terra and Frisbie beat out Steve Ross’ Related Ross, New York-based Namdar Group, and Atlanta-based RocaPoint Partners in a bidding process that concluded in February.
At a city council workshop on Tuesday concerning One Boca, Frisbie partner Rob Frisbie Jr. confirmed the developers would have new plans to present at city meetings on Oct. 27 and 28. The scope is being reduced from the previously planned 30 acres.
Supporters of Save Boca attending the meeting decried the project as a betrayal of public trust, a land grab, and raised concerns about gopher tortoise habitat. One Save Boca supporter invoked Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign in his plea to the city council.
Frisbie said his team has been conducting community meetings to address concerns from the public.
“We’re just in the design phase where we’re listening and incorporating additional feedback from the community,” he said, adding that the developers are focused on enhancing Boca Raton’s Memorial Park in the next set of plans.
Following the Oct. 27 and 28 meetings, the proposal will go to a voter referendum on Mar. 10, 2026.
