On November 18, the first real building on the old Ocean Breeze golf course is scheduled to open its doors at 50 W. Jeffrey St. It is Boca Paddle by CityPickle, a 25-court pickleball and padel club. For about seven months after that, it will be the only finished piece of North Park's 70-acre east side. The trails, the dog park and the playground are on track for substantial completion around June 2027. The 140 acres west of NW 2nd Avenue have no plan at all. Anyone who has watched this land sit fenced off since 2018 should know that North Park is being built from its edges toward its middle, and the middle is the part nobody has decided yet.
A Golf Course That Stopped Being One in 2020
The Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District bought the 27-hole Ocean Breeze course in Boca Teeca in February 2018 and planned to rebuild it as Boca National Golf Club. That design called for 18 holes, a driving range and a short course, at an estimated $14 million. The pandemic put the plan on hold. In fall 2020 the City of Boca Raton announced it was taking over a nearby golf course on Palm Beach County property, and City Council members said they would no longer approve a golf course on the Ocean Breeze land, according to the District's September 2026 capital projects overview.
That one decision left the District with roughly 212 acres and no program. The acreage breaks down as about 70 on the east side, about 140 on the west, and a separate 1.8-acre parcel at Jeffrey Street and NW 2nd Avenue. Everything since then has been the District filling that space one corner at a time.
The first corner to fill was the northwest one. The District resurfaced the old tennis courts there and repaired the parking lot, and in September 2025 it opened a Traffic Garden, where kids learn bike and pedestrian safety on painted lanes with stop signs, yield signs and crosswalks. The District calls it temporary. It will stay open for community use until the site is redeveloped.
What Opens on November 18
The second corner is the southeast one, and it is much larger. In an October 6 interview with the Boca Raton Tribune, Malcolm Butters described a 100,000-square-foot building on 8.1 acres. It has 19 pickleball courts, including a stadium court for tournaments, and six high-clearance padel courts. Sixteen courts are climate-controlled indoors. Of the nine outdoor courts, five are canopy-covered and four are open. The opening date has moved. Coverage of the June 2025 groundbreaking expected a first-quarter 2026 opening, and the outdoor courts were originally described as all covered.
The ownership setup explains why a membership club counts as part of a public park. The District owns the building and the land, and Boca Paddle operates the facility under a concession agreement. The District puts the project at $17 million. The Palm Beach Post reported $20 million.
The cheapest way in costs nothing. Farmer's Kitchen by Farmer's Table, a new restaurant, café and bar from Farmer's Table founder Mitchell Robbins, will be open to the public. Dining there requires no membership and no day pass. Hours and a menu have not been posted yet.
If you play, here is how the new club compares with the public courts Boca already has.
| Where | Courts | How the public gets on |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar Sand Park Field House | Indoor open play at set times each week | $4 for residents, $8 for nonresidents |
| Patch Reef Park | 18 covered, 15 outdoor | Open to the public when not reserved for permitted activities |
| Boca Paddle by CityPickle | 19 pickleball, 6 padel; 16 indoor | $35 day pass for Boca residents with proof of residence, $40 for nonresidents |
The club's membership page shows how the booking ladder works. Standard members pay $149 a month and can book courts 10 days ahead. Plus members pay $299 a month, get a 14-day window and receive 12 open-play passes a month. A Community tier at $49 a month gives a three-day booking window, with programs limited to weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Day-pass players can book 24 hours ahead. The first round of memberships is capped at 1,000. If you want to see the building before it opens, you can book a hard-hat tour through Boca Paddle's Picktime page.
The Club Set the Pace for the Rest of the Park
Boca Paddle isn't opening first by chance. Under the concession agreement, the District has to bring sewer, utilities, parking and roadway access up to the club's property line. In August 2025 the board authorized Butters Construction to do that work early so the club could stay on schedule. Two weeks later the board approved soil remediation under the club's footprint by encapsulation, a method approved by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The District said that step also clears the way for the nearby pavilions, trails and playground.
The park itself had a harder time getting to construction. In December 2025, the Boca Raton Tribune reported that the District had set a $22.5 million construction budget and then received four bids from $29,377,540.84 to $49,143,467.04. It rejected all four and cut the scope. The second round was rejected as well, after the City took over the pedestrian tunnel under Jeffrey Street partway through the evaluation. A third round produced the June 2026 award to Butters Construction. The final contract amount hasn't appeared in the reporting reviewed here.
Here is the east side's schedule from groundbreaking on:
- September 3, 2026. Groundbreaking at NW 2nd Avenue and Jeffrey Street, in the southeast parking lot beside Boca Paddle, followed by a tour of the club.
- November 18, 2026. Boca Paddle's scheduled opening.
- June 2027. Expected substantial completion of the east side, with more than five miles of walking and riding trails, a dog park, a playground, exercise equipment along some trails and more than 1,000 native trees east of NW 2nd Avenue.
At the groundbreaking, District Chair Bob Rollins described where the project stood, according to the District's account of the ceremony:
"It means the end of the beginning, as we now have started putting our plans in place here with development."
Crews have already started removing invasive trees and plants east of NW 2nd Avenue, as code requires. On the west side, the pedestrian tunnel is closed while the District gets its retaining walls repaired. The construction documents for that repair are finished.
The Skatepark Is Third in Line
The next feature is moving on its own track, separate from the east-side contract. The District accepted a final conceptual design for a skatepark and pump track in January 2026. It includes a multi-use street course, pump tracks, transition and bowl areas, and shaded green space. In May 2026 the board approved a construction agreement with American Ramp Company, on the condition that building would start only after every permit and City approval was in place. The Community Appearance Board approved the project unanimously on September 1, 2026, and the Planning and Zoning Board did the same on September 3. The District has now started permitting. No opening date has been announced.
The 140 Acres Without a Plan
The west side is the biggest piece of North Park, and it is the least settled. In August 2025 the District requested proposals for roughly 140 acres there and received nine. They ranged from golf concepts to a YMCA to a surf park. Boca Surf scored highest at 381 points. On November 3, 2025, the board rejected it and similar surf and aquatics projects, citing community compatibility and traffic. Two weeks later, the board voted unanimously to reject every remaining west-side proposal.
The 1.8-acre parcel had its own track. The District negotiated through 2026 over a possible 25,000-square-foot Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County facility there. On August 17, 2026, the board voted 3-2 to end those talks. According to the District, as of September 2026 no proposal from the 2025 round is still under consideration, and future planning for the west side will happen "as determined by the Board."
So here is where North Park stands this fall. A traffic garden sits in one corner, a racquet club opens in another next month, and trails are due around mid-2027. The 140-acre center has no set timeline, and its future will be decided at District board meetings.
If you own a home in Boca Teeca or near Jeffrey Street, the park's schedule now affects your property's story. A finished east side in 2027 and a still-undecided west side make different selling points. Kacie Anderson and her team follow North Park's board decisions as they happen, and they can show you how the timeline affects pricing on your street. Schedule Your Free Market Consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
