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Boca Raton real estate

Addison Mizner home in Boca Raton's Old Floresta neighborhood.

How Boca Raton started

In this affluent city you'll hear a lot about the influences of architect Addison Mizner. Two guys you won't hear much about are Capt. Thomas Moore Rickards Sr. and Clarence Geist, although the city owes both men nearly as much as it does Mizner.

Rickards, the city's first settler, gave Boca Raton its name -- after the section of the city's inlet known in the early part of this century as Lake Boca Raton, or "mouth of the rat" in Spanish. And Geist, who bought the famous Boca Raton Resort & Club from Mizner in 1929, gave the city its signature color when he painted the hotel pink to mimic the perfect sunset.

The Boca Resort & Club is still a key landmark, its bright pink 26-story tower rising high above the southern end of the city.

Downtown Boca Raton

A little further north sits Mizner Park, the city's downtown centerpiece, that was developed with a multi-million dollar bond issue.

The salmon-colored pedestrian mall, conceived of as a cultural and retail park to spur downtown development, has lots of high-end shopping and the city amphitheater, home to many free concerts.

Boca is known for its parks. In fact, a special taxing district that stretches outside the city limits to western Boca Raton levies an assessment to acquire and improve parkland.

Boca Raton issues

The city's crime rate is low, but traffic -- on the ground and in the air-- is a major gripe among the residents. The Boca Raton Municipal Airport is becoming busier, and neighbors are complaining of the noise.

Boca Raton real estate property values have risen so rapidly that affordable housing for people who work in the city has become an issue. Between 1997 and 2002, the percentage of new homes that sold for $100,000 or less in Palm Beach County dropped from 6 percent to 1 percent. In 2003, the average home in Palm Beach County sold for $219,000.

Meanwhile, the city has grown more populous and diverse. The 2000 census reported its population as 74,764, an increase of 21 percent from 1990. Here about 24 percent of households have children. Hispanics are the largest minority group, making up 8.5 percent of the community. Mexicans are the fastest-growing segment of Hispanics, blossoming at the rate of 127.5 percent.

Aerial view of downtown Boca Raton with the Royal Palm Plaza in the foreground and the Mizner Park area in the far back.