Boca Bought Ocean Breeze for Golf. North Park Is Getting Pickleball, a Skatepark and an Empty West Side

On Wednesday, Nov. 18, the first major building on the former Ocean Breeze golf course opens at West Jeffery Street and North Dixie Highway. It isn't the golf course the land was bought for. Boca Paddle by CityPickle opens with 25 pickleball and padel courts, a 1,000-seat stadium court and a restaurant open to anyone. It sits on public land owned by the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District. The club is the most visible sign of what North Park has turned into. The District hasn't followed one master plan for the property. Each piece gets approved, bid and opened on its own schedule, and the biggest piece has no plan at all.

A Golf Course Bought to Replace Another Golf Course

Ocean Breeze closed after too few residents of the surrounding Boca Teeca community played it, and neighbors opposed proposals to build homes on the land. The Beach and Park District paid $24 million for it. The District has said it bought the course at the request of then-Mayor Susan Haynie, because the city planned to sell its own public course. The District's project history dates the purchase of the 27-hole course to February 2018.

The course being sold was Boca Municipal, on Glades Road west of the Turnpike. In 2017 the city picked GL Homes as the buyer at $65 million, according to the Sun Sentinel. The city's audited financial report records that the sale closed on November 1, 2021, for a total of $65,749,351.

On Ocean Breeze, the District planned Boca National Golf Club, an 18-hole course with a driving range, a short course and a putting green, at an estimated construction cost of about $14 million. The pandemic put the project on hold. In the fall of 2020, the city announced it was receiving a donated golf course close to North Park, and City Council members said they would no longer consider approving a course on the Ocean Breeze land.

The donated course came from the Boca Raton Resort & Club. The city renamed it Boca Raton Golf & Racquet Club, and it opened to the public on November 1, 2021, the same day the Glades Road sale closed. Under the city's fee schedule effective October 1, 2026, winter green fees there are $91 for 18 holes and $58 for nine for qualifying residents, and $128 and $81 for nonresidents. Winter rates apply from November 1 through April 30.

So the public golf course the city sold was replaced, just not at Ocean Breeze. That left the District with a former golf course and no golf plan, and everything since has been decided one project at a time.

The First Building Charges by the Hour

The District asked private partners to propose a racquet sports facility for the southeast corner of North Park. It awarded the project to the Malcolm Butters group in March 2024 and approved a contract in August 2024. The District owns both the building and the land, and Boca Paddle operates the club. Under its concession agreement, the District also had to bring sewer, utilities, parking and road access to the club's property line. The District's report calls it a $17 million facility. The Palm Beach Post puts the cost at $20 million.

The Post also reported the court mix. There are 19 pickleball courts and six padel courts. Sixteen courts are indoor and air-conditioned, 14 for pickleball and two for padel. Of the nine outdoor courts, five are covered, and the stadium court is called The Royal Court. Every court has cameras and a 70-inch monitor for scoring and replays. The Post said the club will offer more than 200 hours of court time a day, with dedicated courts for first-time players, and that it will be home to the Palm Beach Royals, a Major League Pickleball team.

Co-founder Brian Levine, a Boca Raton resident, told the Palm Beach Post that he hopes people who have never picked up a paddle will come for dinner and drinks while they watch a match. That restaurant is Farmer's Kitchen, run by Mitchell Robbins of Farmer's Table and open to the public. The Sun Sentinel reports that it will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and have a full bar. Its menu is scratch-made and locally sourced, and chef Michael Schenk, Farmer's Table's culinary director, plans it with players' higher protein needs in mind. For anyone who doesn't play, the restaurant is the free way into the building.

When a Nonmember Pays Member Rates

For players, access depends on the time of day. The club's published 2026 rates charge nonmembers more than Standard and Plus members at peak hours. On weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., everyone pays the same.

Booking windows also favor members. A nonmember day pass lets you book 24 hours ahead. The $49-a-month Community tier allows three days, Standard at $149 allows 10, and Plus at $299 allows 14. There is no initiation fee. Day passes cost $40, or $35 for Boca Raton residents who show proof of residence. The group activities that bring players together, including open play, social programs and leagues, are for members only. Nonmembers can sign up for introductory clinics at $40 an hour for pickleball and $50 for padel.

Put simply, nonmembers get the most from this public-land club on weekday afternoons. After work and on weekends, the club works mainly as a membership club.

The Free Parts Arrive More Slowly

The rest of North Park is free, and it has moved on its own timeline. The first recreation feature to open was a Traffic Garden on the old tennis courts at the northwest corner. It opened in September 2025 as a place for children to practice bike and pedestrian safety, with stop signs, crosswalks and bike lanes. The District calls it temporary but will keep it open until that corner is redeveloped. The west pedestrian tunnel nearby is closed. Construction documents for repairs to its retaining walls are finished, and the District hasn't announced when the tunnel will reopen.

The east-side park took three rounds of bidding. Every bid in the first round came in over budget. The second round fell apart after the city took over the pedestrian tunnel under Jeffery Street. In June 2026, the District awarded the contract to Butters Construction, and ground was broken in September. The District expects the pavilions, trails, playground and restrooms to be substantially complete by June 2027.

The skatepark and pump track are further behind. Skateboarders pushed for them at a District meeting in April 2025, and the design came out of two public workshops. In 2026 they cleared these steps:

1. January 20: the District board accepted the final design, which includes a street course, pump tracks, bowl areas and shaded green space.
2. May 4: the board unanimously approved a construction agreement with American Ramp Company, on the condition that all permits and city approvals come first.
3. September 1 and 3: the Community Appearance Board and the Planning and Zoning Board each approved the project unanimously.

The District has since started the permitting process. It hasn't announced an opening date.

The West Side Is Still Undecided

The largest part of the property is roughly 140 acres west of the paddle club. Once the District paid off the bond on that section in the summer of 2025 and took full ownership, it requested proposals for golf, aquatics or other recreation. Nine came in. The board's scores put Boca Surf first at 381 points, followed by Boca Sports and Entertainment at 347 and Kemper Sports at 346. Wave House, the YMCA of South Palm Beach County, Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County, Ellish Builders, Newell Golf and 8AM Golf scored lower.

None of them is moving forward. On November 3, 2025, the board rejected the surf park and other surf and aquatics ideas over compatibility with the neighborhood and traffic. Two weeks later, it rejected every remaining proposal for the west side, including Kemper Sports' family golf concept. A separate plan for a Boys & Girls Club on a 1.8-acre parcel at Jeffery Street and NW 2nd Avenue stayed alive longer. The board ended those negotiations on August 17, 2026, by a 3-2 vote. As of September 2026, none of the proposals remained under consideration, and the District says it will plan the west side later.

For the rest of this season, then, the paddle club and the Traffic Garden will be the only open parts of North Park. The east-side park is under construction, the skatepark is in permitting, and the west side has no plan. All of it sits on land bought for a golf course the city decided it no longer needed.

A new public-private anchor like Boca Paddle tends to change how buyers see the streets around it, sometimes before the rest of the park is finished. If you own a home in east Boca near Yamato Road and want to understand how North Park's progress may affect its value, Jennifer Kilpatrick FL can walk you through it. Request a Private Home Valuation.