Tuesday, June 23, 2015

The Old And The New Boca Raton

By Jony Mozen


A short distance from Miami sits a smaller city, a city which lists over eighty four thousand residents. Although, those actually residing within the boundaries of Boca Raton only count for a small percentage of those counted during the 2013 census.

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.

Although, as the area also houses a well known hotel, resort and club, originally known as the Ritz-Carlton hotel, and the only 5 rated hotel in Florida, it is definitely worth a visit. While this may be the only five star property, there are also several other lodging options available. As such, whether traveling on a shoe-string or high dollar budget, there is often something for everyone.

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.

The new design in the downtown area has really helped to wake up what had become a tired city from its slumber. Now, with new lodging establishments, restaurants, shops, nightlife and an amphitheater, people come to visit this small city for pleasure as well as business. Also, with its close vicinity to Miami, many individuals are now looking at moving to this area which still houses a population much smaller than its big neighbor.

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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