Boca Raton, traditionally known for its gated communities, golf courses, and retiree-friendly condos, is experiencing a rental housing boom.
Top developers, renowned for luxury condo towers and upscale office buildings in Miami, are now turning their attention to the Palm Beach County city, investing heavily in high-density living.
Currently, around 7,600 apartment units are in the planning or development stages—more than four times the number delivered since 2022, according to Yardi Matrix data.
Proposals for communities of hundreds of apartments — and, in one case, over 1,000 — are finding their way onto Boca business parks, next to the Tri-Rail Station, on Office Depot’s former corporate campus and even part of a master plan for Boca’s new City Hall.
Investors are betting that the migration of people and business to Palm Beach County is still ongoing and that employees — some priced out of a housing market where values climbed 78% in the past five years, according to Miller Samuel and Douglass Elliman — will find appeal in rental communities with pools and yoga studios, an easy walk to retail and, perhaps, the office.
“We want all these amazing companies to come here, but we also want to provide the necessary housing for those companies to be able to thrive,” said David Martin, CEO of Terra, a Miami-based luxury condo developer that’s now on tap to build Boca rentals in the future City Hall neighborhood. “Workforce housing, or attainable housing, I think is a critical piece of the puzzle.”
Martin’s firm, in partnership with Frisbie Group, won a four-way competition this year for the rights to redevelop Boca’s government complex, with a 2.5 million-square-foot proposal that includes a 150-room hotel, 250,000 square feet of office space — and 1,129 rental units. The plan, at 201 West Palmetto Park Road, bested three other pitches, including one from Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross’s firm, Related Ross, which came in second with a plan that leaned more heavily on building office space.
Boca Raton’s Rental Boom Expands with Major Developments
Boca Raton’s rental market continues to surge, with several major projects in the pipeline.
Miami-based 13th Floor Investments is set to build a 340-unit apartment complex near the Tri-Rail Station on Yamato Road. The eight-story development will include affordable and workforce housing, catering to tenants across income levels.
Further north, the partnership behind the 2023 acquisition of Office Depot’s corporate campus has ambitious residential plans. Miami’s Related Group, BH Group, and PEBB Enterprises recently secured approval for 500 apartments on the 29-acre site, along with 43,000 square feet of retail space and a 37,000-square-foot Equinox fitness center. To accommodate the project, 246,000 square feet of office space—more than half of what’s currently on-site—will be demolished, while two corporate buildings will remain. Office Depot will continue as a tenant.
A Growing Demand for Rentals
Industry leaders see workforce housing as a crucial piece of the puzzle.
“There is a real shortage and a real demand,” said Isaac Toledano, co-head of BH Group. He noted that Boca Raton has seen little rental development in the past nine years, despite a growing influx of businesses and young professionals relocating to the area.
The trend is reflected in US Census data compiled by PropertyShark, which shows a steady rise in renter-occupied units in Boca since 2019. By 2023, there were 14,107 renter-occupied units—an 18% increase from four years prior.
Despite strong demand, rents have remained stable, suggesting that new development has kept pace with growth, said Ken Johnson, a housing economist and the Christie Kirkland Walker chair of real estate at the University of Mississippi. In February, Palm Beach County rents increased just 2.31% from the previous year.
Still, Johnson emphasized the need for continued construction.
“We need to keep building—that’s the caveat,” he said. “To truly address the housing shortage in Palm Beach County, we need more roofs. And right now, we don’t have enough.”
