This is the fifth article in a six-part series from One Boca, One Future spotlighting the City of Boca Raton’s most valuable yet under-realized growth area: The Northwest Sector, the space on the map between I-95 and Military Trail, Clint Moore Road and Spanish River Blvd.

What is a community of the future?

As business and government leaders contemplate this question in Boca Raton and its Northwest Sector, many answers and definitions come to mind.

A “community of the future” is a destination for leading-edge companies and the bright, entrepreneurial minds who create and run them. It is a place on the front lines of innovative technology, where disruptive applications take root, and business development thrives.

It’s where companies want to base headquarters or regional operations to avail themselves of essential amenities and benefits found nearby.

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“As this country continues to grow and change, communities are left to figure out where all these new people will live, work, and shop,” writes Harry H. Frampton III, chair of the Urban Land Institute, which partnered with National Multi Housing Council, the Sierra Club and the American Institute of Architects on a ground-breaking 2005 report exploring the environmental and community importance of development that improves land use and maximizes functionality.

“Markets are emerging for real estate that offers a more convenient lifestyle than is offered by many low-density sprawling communities,” he continues. “New compact developments with a mix of uses and housing types throughout the country are being embraced as a popular alternative to sprawl. At the core of the success of these developments is density, which is the key to making these communities walkable and vibrant.”

The attached publication explores the myths and facts of higher-density development “and attempts to dispel them with facts to help dismantle the many barriers such developments face.”

Download and read the report here.

This is the fourth in a series of articles from One Boca, One Future spotlighting the City of Boca Raton’s most valuable yet under-realized growth area: The Northwest Sector, the space on the map between I-95 and Military Trail, Clint Moore Road and Spanish River Blvd.

Boca Raton is a tale of two cities. To the east, the city’s business corridor has office buildings, commercial plazas, restaurants and residences. In many areas, those workers who do commute in can leave their cars behind and walk to lunch – or mass transit service up and down the south Florida rail and commuter corridor.

It’s a live / work / play destination for the thousands who frequent the area daily.

Yet, to the west, where dozens of high-tech, 21st century businesses have changed the landscape and employ thousands more employees, facilities and services are few and far between.

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Opposition to Boca Raton’s proposed downtown rentals has been grabbing headlines, but property owners are building attention and buying headlines to win support for more rentals in another section of the city.

The city’s 20,000-circulation weekly, The Boca Raton Tribune, recently published the fourth in a series of six “advertorials” written in support of bringing rentals to the underused Arvida Park of Commerce in the northwest section of the city. Read the entire Sun-Sentinel article here.

This is the third in a series of articles from One Boca, One Future spotlighting the City of Boca Raton’s most valuable yet under-realized growth area: The Northwest Sector, the space on the map between I-95 and Military Trail, Clint Moore Road and Spanish River Blvd.

Someone looking for a model of leading edge sustainability – in theory and practice – need only take a look at existing businesses and future plans for Boca Raton’s Northwest Sector.

It’s there that Broken Sound Club has instituted a host of innovative, conservation-minded infrastructure and facilities improvements as part of a $27 million makeover. Its composting efforts steer tons of garbage from area landfills and incinerators, and save the club tens of thousands of dollars annually.

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This is the second in a series of articles from One Boca, One Future spotlighting the City of Boca Raton’s most valuable yet under-realized growth area: The Northwest Sector, the space on the map between I-95 and Military Trail, Clint Moore Road and Spanish River Blvd.

They’re young, educated and upwardly mobile. Many enjoy starting incomes close to $75,000 – and rising into the six figures. Who wouldn’t want these people as neighbors?

The problem is, these young employees face a dilemma in northwest Boca Raton. Not yet prepared to buy a residence, their incomes are sufficient to rent luxury apartments. Yet, no such apartments exist in the city’s Northwest Sector. So they commute – South from Delray Beach, or north from Fort Lauderdale.

As a result, Boca Raton risks losing them as productive, engaged life-long residents whose families one day will play on the soccer fields and whose incomes will help fuel the tax base.

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This is the first in a series of articles from One Boca, One Future spotlighting the City of Boca Raton’s most valuable yet under-realized growth area: The Northwest Sector, the space on the map between I-95 and Military Trail, Clint Moore Road and Spanish River Blvd.

More than 45 years ago, Northwest Boca Raton was the model community. IBM’s arrival ushered in neighborhoods, top-rated schools, businesses and key infrastructure that became the blueprint for today’s live-work-play community.

Housing and lifestyle amenities offered IBM’s people “a good place to raise families in a very nurturing environment for professionals,” says IBM veteran Pete Martinez, who today is Chairman of Palm Beach Medical Education Corporation, parent of a new medical school  planned for Boca Raton.

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The purpose of our site is to help bring sustainable development and new jobs to Boca Raton. We plan to share information on our city and on what can be done to improve the climate for attracting new business.