Thursday, July 2, 2015

The Old And The New Boca Raton

By Jony Mozen


When it comes to beaches and sunshine, amusements and dining, nightlife and shopping, the Miami area has it all. Originally incorporated in 1925, Boca Raton, only 43 miles from Miami now hosts over 84,000 residents of its own. Although, a number of people reside outside the boundaries, only using this smaller city as a center for business and economic trade.

As the city has now been built as a center of business, the daytime population increases dramatically. Due to Miami being only a few miles away, it is quite popular with tourists and locals. Whether a short drive to beaches, museums and nightlife in Miami, or simply living the simple life at home, the area has a lot to offer.

One of the finest and the only five star rated hotel in Florida is located in the area. As such, visitors to Miami and the smaller city often enjoy staying at this fine establishment. Built in 1926, only one year after the city was incorporated, it was originally a Ritz-Carlton. While this may be the only five star resort in the area, there area also a number of other lodging options.

The first business to grace the presence of this small city was that of IBM. IBM built its first business complex here in 1926. IBM together with another corporation secretly purchased land, then built what would become a quite historic business park. While now considered part of this small city, it originally the complex sat on the outskirts until the area was later annexed.

This small city and IBM are to be thanked for the first PC, which was developed in the area. The business park still in existence now stands next to the Tri-City rail park. Ahead of its time, the business complex was built with its own electrical substation, water pump and rail line. Eventually, IBM began to build other complexes in other cities, and outgrew the small plaza.

IBM and Bill Gates then developed the first personal computers for home and business. Later, the two worked together again when the IBM OS/2 operating system merged with the initial Windows operating system. So, while a lot of decay has happened in the area, some historical relics remain. Though, as it is mostly the eastern areas of the city which have seen such decay, pieces of the complex have also been lost in time.

Since the closure of the original mall, the downtown area has been built up with a new outdoor shopping center, several restaurants and improvements to the park including an outdoor amphitheater. The site also features a park which lies between the two main thoroughfares, now known as Plaza Real. A number of tourists have suggested the area is akin to shopping centers found in the Mediterranean.

All in all, this redevelopment over the old shopping mall has helped to revitalize the city. Other mixed use buildings either recently constructed or still under construction hope to continue the trend. Though, when it comes to housing, as with other cities, it seems while there are plenty of new homes, condos and apartments available though many are outside the reach of middle class America.




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