The Boca Difference

The Boca

Difference

Boca Raton sets the bar for South Florida living at its best, from business to beaches to good times and great ideas.

by staff

Boca Raton may have always been a desirable place to live and work, but the last two years has seen it emerge as a top destination for people and businesses relocating from all over the country, especially the northeastern United States. The pandemic migration is part of it, the businessfriendly ethos is another, but at the core of Boca’s continued growth is its solid reputation as a well-run city with a diversified economy—and a lifestyle with the kind of amenities that are disappearing from other South Florida locations.

The meat-and-potatoes benefits of living here are outlined throughout this publication, including world-class health care, transportation, schools and governance. But there’s that other thing, the less tangible one, the one that is harder to quantify and measure.

And that is quality of life.

Clean air, unspoiled beaches, less traffic, strict zoning laws, excellent dining and shopping. Parks everywhere. Robust philanthropy. Sophistication. It is all of this and more that makes the Boca Difference, that makes this a city thriving under higher standards than most of its neighbors, eager to innovate, eager to protect its character and its singular legacy of living well.

Here are the ways Boca stands apart. And is, now more than ever, leading the way.

THE NATURAL WORLD

The deep blue Gulf Stream comes closest to this stretch of coastline than anywhere else in the country, bringing spectacular fishing with it. But the first thing people notice when they visit is our unspoiled beaches—three miles of coastline without high-rises or houses or commercial buildings—which is almost unheard of in Florida these days. In 1974, the city decided to buy up the beachfront outright, and preserve it in perpetuity, a prescient move that gave Boca a signature amenity.

And that blue, blue water is also home to a variety of diving and snorkeling experiences. In addition to our reefs, divers also enjoy several wrecks such as the Sea Emperor, nicknamed the Aqua Zoo because it’s home to everything from goliath groupers to nurse sharks. The trail of wrecks continues, including the United Caribbean or Ancient Mariner, both popular diving destinations.

But the beach is just the start; the city also has 42 parks, from ones with expansive playing fields and pickleball and tennis courts to lush Gumbo Limbo with its tree canopy and touch tanks and the interactive Daggerwing Nature Center, which begins underground, continues underwater and rises above the surface into the canopy of a swamp. Its exhibits featuring a number of live animals—frogs, snapping turtles and, yes, even an alligator or two.

The city has taken care to preserve its natural character, which even extends to zoning laws that prohibit certain signage and other elements that might mar its aesthetics—a quality rarely found in the region now.

THE GOOD LIFE

Luxury has long been associated with Boca Raton, a result of its overall ambience—as well as its top-notch dining, shopping and entertainment. Although there is all kinds of housing in the city, the private country club is a way of life in Boca, with several gated enclaves offering lavish landscaping and architecture and stellar amenities such as world-class golf, gourmet dining and a wide range of entertainment options and services. This is also home to the newly reimagined The Boca Raton, formerly the Boca Raton Resort & Club, a nearly 100-year-old internationally renowned resort with an exclusive private club enjoyed by many Boca residents.

Nowhere is the good life better than in the

Underwater offshore at Boca Raton

city’s many, many fine restaurants, a trend that escalated decades ago as more New Yorkers (with refined culinary appetites) migrated here, galvanizing the dining scene. Today, Boca Raton is known for its fine dining, which escalates every year.

The city is also a shopping destination, drawing people from as far as Miami (and South America!) to its upscale Town Center, one of only two malls in the U.S. with four high-end anchors (Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom) under the same roof. Town Center is luxury retail heaven on Earth, with 200-plus stores and restaurants.

Downtown, Royal Palm Place is one of Boca’s signature downtown shopping areas, along with Mizner Park a few blocks north. The 14-acre mixed-use destination—long known as the “Pink Plaza”—features a mix of fine dining, neighborhood bistros and taverns, high-end shopping boutiques and 185 luxury residences—all rendered in the Mediterranean “Old World” style so characteristic of Boca Raton architecture. This is also where the 65-foot statue of Addison Mizner welcomes visitors to the city, and is the site of the Boca Raton Historical Society’s “Walk of Recognition” honoring local philanthropists.

Mizner Park also offers great dining and shopping options, and functions as Boca’s de facto city center with events at its amphitheater and its prestigious anchor, the Boca Raton Museum of Art. And a new performing arts

The Boca Raton

center is on the way.

And just because this is how we do things, valet parking is everywhere in Boca—even at some neighborhood grocery stores. It’s that luxury thing again, but in terms of service. There is valet parking at the hospital, at most restaurants, at all charity events—even at some of the anchor stores at the mall. Parking your own car is so not Boca.

THE WEEKENDS

Playtime is all year round in Boca Raton. In Boca Raton, golf is a staple—and it just got better with our new municipal golf course—with all the amenities of a private club. The country club’s owners, MSD Partners and Northview Hotel Group, who bought the Boca Raton Resort & Club in 2019, donated the golf course to the City of Boca Raton, which is currently updating the property into a first-class city amenity, although the golf course is already up and running. The Southwinds Golf Course is a par-70 tract, and Osprey Point Golf Course boasts 27 holes of “Environmental Turf Grass.”

For those who love professional or collegiate sports, look no further than the city of Boca Raton. Lynn University has several teams, including cutline baseball, basketball, lacrosse, swimming and volleyball. At Florida Atlantic University, there are 19 NCAA Division I-A teams to support. And just an hour and change away, you’ve got professional sports with the sunshine triumvirate: the Miami Dolphins, Miami Marlins and Florida Panthers.

THE CONSCIENCE

Boca was green before green was a thing, with one of the earliest recycling programs in Florida, recycled water initiatives, bike trails, a Tree City USA designation and some 42 parks. The city even has its own sustainability manager to increase the level of community participation in environmental programs. One of her first moves was the creation of Coastal Connection, a citywide environmental initiative that “identifies and promotes actions and practices which limit environmental impact and increase environmental benefit”—awarding businesses that eliminate single-use plastics and offer sustainable menu options, among other environmental actions.

Boca’s demographics also contribute to its quality of life. The Boca zip code is one of the wealthiest in South Florida, and a large majority of the city’s high-net-worth individuals are also highly philanthropic; it’s a thing here. The lively social season is based on giving back to a myriad of charities, and the town continually bests its level of giving. It has built hospitals, preserved its parks, fed the poor, aided medical research, sent hundreds of scholars to college and established a wide range of cultural institutions and programs. Giving is a way of life here.

THE LIFE OF THE MIND

Boca Raton has cultivated its arts and culture profile through a robust Cultural Consortium comprised of groups like the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Ballet Theatre, the Symphonia, the Wick Theatre & Costume Museum and many more. Festival of the Arts Boca, in the Mizner Park Amphitheater, is a 10-day showcase of music and literature with marquee appearances by the likes of Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Salman Rushdie, Renée Fleming, Jon Meacham, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Thomas Friedman, Fareed Zakaria, Béla Fleck, Bill Murray, Pat Metheny and Herb Alpert, plus screenings of “The Wizard of Oz” and “West Side Story” backed by full orchestra. The festival draws more than 15,000 visitors and generates more than $1 million for the area economy every year.

A group in Boca, the Boca Raton Arts District Exploratory Corporation, is well on its way to raising $120 million to build a state-of-the-art performing arts center at Mizner Park—which

JC RIDLEY

Lynn Cancer Institute

will include revamping and incorporating the current amphitheater into a versatile and innovative performance/event space.

Boca Raton is also a “college town;” between FAU, Lynn University and the Boca campus of Palm Beach State College, as well as specialty school Everglades University, Boca has upward of 40,000 students working toward degrees. Its primary and secondary schools are excellent; in fact, many families relocate here for its A-rated schools alone. Well-regarded private schools such as Pinecrest and St. Andrews are known for their academic excellence.

THE WELLNESS FACTOR

Boca Raton is an outdoor living kind of place, with a mindful approach to both lifestyle and medicine. It set standards of protection and care throughout the region in its pandemic policies, and it is home to a growing number of first-rate health care institutions.

Boca Raton Regional Hospital, currently undergoing a $250 million expansion, has specialized practice areas like the Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute, the Harvey & Phyllis Sandler Pavilion and the Marcus Neuroscience Institute. The region also features West Boca Medical Center, Delray Medical Center and more. FAU has the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, and the city is awash in any number of specialized doctors, including cosmetic surgeons. But that’s another story.

MICHAEL STAVARIDIS “Rocket” sculpture at BRIC

THE BUSINESS OF BOCA

Boca Raton has spawned a diversified economy over the years, unlike most booming cities in South Florida. Translated: It’s not completely dependent on tourism. The city has its share of Fortune 500 companies, a robust banking sector, large real estate developers, retailers, service industries, health care providers, small businesses and on and on. Office space in Boca—much of it Class A—is available in sprawling office parks, the Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRIC), FAU Research & Development Park and throughout other areas. The city continues to see demand and growth from education, health care and startup technology companies—and is attracting new and significant investment as more and more people migrate to South Florida in the post-pandemic era.