The Holiday Inn off Yamato Road is turning 183 rooms into 125 apartments, a restaurant, and ground-floor retail – approved by Boca’s City Council on May 15.
And it’s not getting torn down.
Reuse over rebuild
The 1980s building, the pool, the fitness center, and all 214 parking spaces stay. The interior gets reworked into 74 studios, 43 one-bedrooms, and 8 two-bedrooms.
No demolition. No ground-up timeline. It’s faster, cheaper, and it makes attainable rents possible in a city where new construction rarely does. Thirteen units are reserved as affordable and seven as workforce, locked in for 50 years.
The buyer is Boca-based Opterra Capital, run by a former Blackstone managing director – with Charleston’s Montford Group. They paid $13.3 million for the site in 2021.
This is a national trend showing up locally
The numbers back it up. Office-to-apartment conversions alone hit a record ~90,000 units in the U.S. pipeline this year – up 28% in twelve months and nearly four times the 2022 figure. Across the country, owners of aging hotel and office buildings are looking to optimize value. Hotels like this one are the next-biggest piece of the wave.
The bones are paid for, the demand is real, and Boca just added one more.
A connected corridor
There’s also the location. Tri-Rail is nearby, I-95 is minutes away, and a new path connects the site to the El Rio Trail for anyone biking or walking to the train.
A more walkable, more active corridor lifts the value of everything around it – including the office space next door. Tenants evaluate the suite and the environment around it – where lunch is, where coffee is, a path to walk at lunch, whether there’s anywhere to go after work.
“Boca’s largely been known as a retirement town, but that’s changing fast. We’re seeing younger renters, remote workers, and corporate professionals move in – and projects like this are a direct response to who’s living and working here now.” – Lauren Lam, Associate, NAI Merin Hunter Codman
What we’re watching
The headline says “hotel becomes apartments.” The real shift is a market getting smarter about the value it already has – and a corridor getting more connected in the process. Adaptive reuse is one of the biggest shifts in CRE today.
That’s the lens we bring to every property we represent. We track what’s changing, not just what’s listed.
Leasing in this submarket – or just watching it? Let’s talk. 561 471 8000 | mhcreal.com
About NAI Merin Hunter Codman NAI Merin Hunter Codman is Palm Beach County’s largest commercial real estate firm, headquartered in West Palm Beach. The firm represents office, retail, industrial, and medical office properties across South Florida – handling leasing, investment sales, and property management for institutional owners, local landlords, and tenants. As a member of NAI Global, MHC combines deep local market knowledge with worldwide reach.
