District Breaks Ground On North Park

Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District Commissioners, representatives from Butters Construction & Development and local leaders ceremoniously launched North Park's east side development with a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday morning.

“It means the end of the beginning, as we now have started putting our plans in place here with development,” District Chair Bob Rollins said. “It's nice to see how far we've come with the site cleanup and the next phase is actually construction, so I'm looking forward to that.”

Rollins addressed the gathering prior to all five Commissioners putting shovels in the dirt, signifying development is underway.

Boca Raton Mayor Andy Thompson, city manager Mark Sohaney, Palm Beach County Vice Mayor Marci Woodward, Gloria Branch of the Palm Beach County School Board, and Boca Raton City Council members Yvette Drucker and Stacey Sipple also attended the ceremony.

A couple of months ago District Commissioners selected Butters Construction & Development to develop the 70 acres on the east side of North Park.

That part of the project will include more than five miles of walking and riding trails, a dog park and a playground. Some trails will feature exercise equipment. When complete, more than 1,000 native trees will be added to the area east of NW 2nd Ave.

Crews have already started to remove invasive trees and plants from the area, as required by code.

“As Erin said, it's more than just trails,” Commissioner Craig Ehrnst said, with a nod to Commissioner Erin Wright. “It's a transformative park for Boca Raton. I love that we have such a beautiful park coming here.”

The ceremony occurred at the corner of NW 2nd Ave. and Jeffrey St., in the southeast parking lot near Boca Paddle – an indoor/outdoor pickleball and padel club expected to open in November.

Following the ceremony, guests received a tour of Boca Paddle.

Boca Paddle will be the second North Park feature to open. Last year the District opened a Traffic Garden designed to be a fun way to teach young bicyclists and scooter riders safety.

North Park is being created on the former Ocean Breeze golf course within the Boca Teeca section of Boca Raton.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection will help ensure that all soil contaminated by chemicals when the property was a golf course is mitigated. The entire project will comply with Sustainable SITES Initiative standards for environmental friendliness.