The City That Delray Beach Laughed At Is Coming for Its Crown
Boynton Beach Just Made a $30 Million Bet on Itself - Here's What's Coming
For years, the running joke about Boynton Beach was simple: three exits off I-95 and nothing to stop for. City leaders have heard it long enough. Now they’re doing something about it. The Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency is executing an ambitious strategy to transform the city’s downtown and waterfront into destinations worth seeking out — think Delray Beach’s Atlantic Avenue energy, but with Boynton’s own identity. Leading the charge is CRA Executive Director Christopher Brown, who previously helped reshape both Delray Beach and Pompano Beach, and has now set his sights on Boynton.
The moves are already happening. The CRA recently paid $6.8 million for 1.24 acres next to Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, with plans to expand the waterfront experience - think dining on the water, more docks, and public gathering spaces that give residents and visitors a reason to linger. Near Boynton Harbor Marina, planners are eyeing a four-story mixed-use building with ground-floor restaurants, retail, and residential units above. And at Exit 57 off I-95, where the Inn at Boynton Beach once stood, the city has purchased the property and 14 surrounding parcels to create a redesigned gateway corridor that actually invites travelers in rather than sending them straight through.
The heart of it all is Ocean Avenue. City leaders want it to become Boynton’s answer to Atlantic Avenue - a lively, walkable restaurant and entertainment district anchored by genuine history. The 1927 Arts & Cultural Center and the 1913 Schoolhouse Children’s Museum give Boynton something Delray had to manufacture: authenticity. A second phase of the Villages at East Ocean Avenue project could even restore the historic 1907 Andrews House and convert it into a café, weaving the city’s oldest surviving home into its newest chapter. Major projects including Ocean One, The Pierce, and Town Square are already approved. The Villages at East Ocean Avenue is under construction and expected to deliver in 2027.
The CRA is also exploring up to $30 million in bond funding to acquire additional key properties and position them for private redevelopment.
This isn’t a distant dream anymore. The money is being spent, the properties are being bought, and the vision is taking shape block by block. Boynton Beach is building toward something and the window to watch it happen, invest in it, or simply enjoy it, is opening right now.
