Matthew Maschler:
Welcome to the Real Estate Finder podcast. I’m Matthew Maschler, the Real Estate Finder, and with me the co-host of the Real Estate Finder podcast, Stacy Garcia. Hi, Stacy. How are you? I’m great. All right. And, uh, we have a very, very special guest today, uh, in the studio. He is the mayor of Palm Beach County. His, he is Robert Weinroth, a good friend of mine. I don’t think he was a politician at all when I met him 15, 20 years ago.
Robert Weinroth:
I’m not a politician, I’m just a resident who wants to do good for our community.
Matthew Maschler:
Um, that sounds good. That’s, that’s nice. I like
Robert Weinroth:
Three
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh> and the first created that question I have. Yes. Um, the mayor of Palm Beach County. Yes. Usually cities have mayors. Yes. Does the mayor of Boca Raton Yes. You’re the mayor of Palm Beach County. Yes. The county has a mayor. Yes.
Robert Weinroth:
How does that work? Why? You ask why? Okay. Uh, first of all, Scott Singer, our mayor of the city of Boca Raton Yes. Will let you know that he was elected Mayor Uhhuh <affirmative>. I was not. Okay. There are seven of us in the county commission. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> elected by single member districts.
Matthew Maschler:
Okay.
Robert Weinroth:
My district is District four, which happens to include Boca Raton, a little bit west, and then going up along the, uh, barrier island to South Palm Beach. Now, one of us has to run the meeting. That would usually be the chair, but years.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. The county commission has a chair.
Robert Weinroth:
It would have a chair. But before I got there, a guy by the name of Steven Abrams, who used to be mayor of the city of Boca Raton, became a commissioner. And it was his idea that like Broward and like Miami Dade, the head of the commission should be mayor. And so they changed the title from chair to mayor. And what it really does is if we have a hurricane or something bad happening, I’m the one that they shove the microphone in your face, said Wine Roth, what should we do? And I say, hide
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh>. Okay. That’s good. That is good advice. Hiding during a hurricane. And I actually think it’s, it’s important because, you know, you have all these, uh, people that move to move to the area that are new to the area, and businesses that move to the, the area. And, you know, when you’re negotiating in business, you want, you wanna talk to the person in charge.
Robert Weinroth:
And, and it’s funny you should say that because, and there the, there is a story that I’m not sure if it was true or not, but the reason they changed to mayor is because a politician by the name of Obama came into town and he looked to his left, and there was the mayor of the city, of West Palm Beach. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> looked to his right. There was the chair of the beach of the Boca Ch of the, uh, of the Palm Beach County Commission. And he shook the hand of the mayor, the mayor of city. Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
The mayor,
Robert Weinroth:
Not the county commissioner. Yeah. The county commission was a, was upset and mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And that’s why we became mayor instead of chair. Right.
Matthew Maschler:
And, and I wasn’t thinking specifically of that one. Cause even, even in, in Miami had a mayor of the county at that time, and that’s what, uh, and that was the same reason why, because, you know, there’s a bunch of cities, right. Miami Beach, Miami Gardens. So you had several mayors, and then you had the county commissioner, and it seemed that the, uh, the mayors were in charge. So it’s, it’s a good title.
Robert Weinroth:
It sounds more important than it is. It’s really just a ceremonial title. Uhhuh <affirmative>. At the end of November, I will hand it off to the next guy if I do get reelected, and that guy will be, uh, Greg Weiss, and he will be the next mayor. So
Matthew Maschler:
The end of November, you’re gonna run for reelection as a county commissioner? Exactly. In district four, where I
Robert Weinroth:
Live, eh, where you and I both
Matthew Maschler:
Live. And, and I, I’m not able to vote for any of the other six commissioners.
Robert Weinroth:
Nope. Single member districts. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, single member districts. So let’s talk, this is real estate. Real estate. Let’s talk about real estate. Yeah. We have such great things going on in our county, Matt. I just know that you want to know what is happening in the real estate market, but of course, you already know the prices are getting ridiculous.
Matthew Maschler:
So I was wondering, because the prices are, are much higher, um, and the taxes we pay are a percentage of the value of the house. Um, what
Robert Weinroth:
Are we doing to, uh, blunt that?
Matthew Maschler:
Does that mean that the, um, people who’ve lived here for a long time, uh, will have, uh, less taxes because these new people coming in paying more for a house are gonna be paying more whole dollars?
Robert Weinroth:
Well, you know what, you do touch on a very important point, which is called Homestead. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Now, homestead has two reasons to have it. One, you get $50,000 off the appraised value of your home when they’re figuring out your property taxes. So if you have a $500,000 home, they’re only going to assess you on 450,000.
Matthew Maschler:
The first 50,000 is free, free.
Robert Weinroth:
Now, the more important reason that you want Homestead, if it’s your prime primary residence, is that your value can only go up 3% a year. Now, you and I both know, in this real estate market, some properties jumped 25, 30, maybe in 40% in a year.
Matthew Maschler:
And, and that’s very important in, in Florida, the reason Florida did that is a lot of people come down here, they’re on fixed incomes. So if you’re on a fixed income and your mortgage is fixed, right, it’s a 30 year mortgage at a fixed rate, um, your insurance can go up. But if you’re on a fixed income and your taxes go up, where do you get the money from? So it was a very important thing for Florida to homestead, to cap how much they can raise the, uh, taxes on your house, the, the value of your house. They, they, they, they’re limited how much they could raise the value of your house. Um, because a lot of people are on fixed
Robert Weinroth:
Income. And, and the legislation was actually called Save Our Homes mm-hmm. <affirmative>, so that someone was not being run out of their home because the value had exceeded their ability to pay the taxes on it.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. Right. So it’s very important. It is. And that’s why I was thinking the new people coming in paying this higher amount,
Robert Weinroth:
They will. Because when you buy that home for the first time, it’s going to be set at market rate. And then from then on, the 3% is gonna kick in. So if we had the same conditions next year, and you just bought a home in a Palm Beach County next year, you’d only see it go up 3%. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> not 20% or 30%. The other thing I am proud to tell people is that we, for the first time in 15 years, reduced the millage, Uhhuh <affirmative>, which is the rate at which we are taxing our residents for the property taxes. And that is only on the county portion of your property
Matthew Maschler:
Taxes. And you were instrumental in that tax reduction.
Robert Weinroth:
I am the one who brought that forward. And, uh, the county administrator was not my f <laugh>, my, my best friend when I did that, but, uh, by a vote of four to three. And that’s what it took a majority, four to three, we were able to move that forward. And it’s the first time, as I said, in 15 years that we were able to do that.
Matthew Maschler:
Well, thank you to thank you for doing that. Yeah. That’s great. Well,
Robert Weinroth:
You know, you may not be able to buy another house with the re savings, but you know what, uh, it was time for us to, how long does that last? It will last, well, first for this year mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and then again, next year we’ll have to take a look at what the costs are of running the government. Right.
Matthew Maschler:
Well, next, next year. That’s what the taxes are. So if they increase it, that’s raising taxes.
Robert Weinroth:
Gotcha. That’s right. And I don’t want to do that.
Matthew Maschler:
So, because the taxes are, um, the, the, the taxes are locked in with Homestead. What happens if, uh, if people move do, if they, they obviously sell their house for a lot more than the property appraiser thinks it’s worth, but if they move, they’re gonna buy, uh, they could buy a lesser house that’s more expensive.
Robert Weinroth:
Well, there’s two things that people need to know. One is called portability, Uhhuh. <affirmative>. So let’s say you have a house that is worth a value of let’s say 500,000, but because of homestead, the taxable value has been going up much slower. So maybe your taxable value is 400, that gap of a hundred thousand dollars you can bring to your new residence. So even if you bought another residence that was slightly higher in cost, you would still have the cushion of the homestead being carried over to the new property.
Matthew Maschler:
And that’s great because what we’re facing is people who want to downsize mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but because the values are, are up, they’re, they’re gonna downsize into a, a more expensive, um, smaller unit. And obviously they, you know, they, they have the gain on their house, but that higher priced, smaller unit will be taxed. People think that they’re gonna be taxed higher on it. They don’t realize that they can bring a, a little bit of portability with them. Well, that’s
Robert Weinroth:
Right. And, uh, again, like you said, uh, some people have the, you know, the, the decision to make, do I downsize knowing that I’m not gonna save any money? Or do I just keep these extra rooms that I’m not using and just lock the doors? That’s
Matthew Maschler:
What they do. But, but it becomes, but it’s become, for some people, it’s hard to maintain that house. Of course, the landscaping and, and the housing, the roof leaks, the extra zones of air conditioning. And,
Robert Weinroth:
Well, my wife and I have made the decision to move away from the gated community to a condo for just that reason. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> tired of dealing with the pool guy, tired of dealing with the landscape guy, tired of dealing with a, a new roof or whatever else you have to deal with. Condo. I come in, I lock the door, walk away, and someone else worries about it.
Matthew Maschler:
And I, I thought it was me that you moved <laugh> that it was moved away from. So I feel better now. Okay. So yeah. So if you come to, uh, Palm Beach County, you have a choice. You have your single family homes, your country club, estates, your condos on the water, condos on the golf course, not on the water. So there’s lots of choices.
Robert Weinroth:
Or the urban, you know, I mean, again, down here in Boca Raton, we have an urban landscape. I love walking out the door of my condo and having the city is my oyster. I can walk up to Meisner Park, I can walk to a restaurant, I can walk to, you know, the right next door Here we have, uh, uh, a of the funky Biscuit mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, so there’s all sorts of opportunities to leave the car in the garage and still enjoy my living room, which is the city of Boca Raton. You, you
Matthew Maschler:
Were a very short walk away from the Real Estate Hunter podcast, studio headquarters.
Robert Weinroth:
That’s right. And, uh, I certainly did not park my car today.
Matthew Maschler:
Oh, that’s wonderful.
Robert Weinroth:
So tell me more about what’s going on with you as far as, you know, I know that you are selling quite a bit of real estate now. What’s going on at, uh, paradise Florida Properties?
Matthew Maschler:
You, you know, I think, um, I think that the, you know, we, we’ve, we’ve entered a new normal, right? A lot of people are waiting for, for prices to go down or go back where they were. I don’t think that’s happening. I’ve talked about that for a lot of reasons on the podcast. I mean, if the price of roofs and windows and doors have tripled, the val intrinsic value of the home has increased. So I don’t think that, um, property values are gonna go down to where they were a few months or a few years ago. But we’re not, we, we may not see the, uh, super run up of, uh, of housing costs and the bidding wars that we saw through 2001 in the beginning of 2022.
Robert Weinroth:
Well, I think that, you know, with the price of money getting more expensive now, I think the, the issue is that we’re seeing more of, uh, of a, a reason why people are staying put and they’re not buying, uh, another home because they don’t want to have to pay the mortgages that, uh, are now double what they cost just a couple years ago.
Matthew Maschler:
But I think there’s still an important market at second home in Florida market. I think we need to, uh, really explore and incumbent on, incumbent on me and people in my business to, uh, to pitch, right? Because we don’t know when the next pandemic or endemic or or disease is gonna come. And we, we know how quickly some of these states are, the, the northern states and, and some of the Western states, uh, to, to quick down. And I think people really, you know, anyone who had a second home, if you were living in New York City or New York area, if you had a second home at the beginning of Covid, people ran to their second homes. Right. Uh, that they had them. And a lot of people have, uh, have left those, those regions for their second homes. And I think, um, and, you know, people were able to, you know, come down here to Florida and vacation a little bit and go to the beach a little bit, play golf a little bit, while their counter of parts up north, um, uh, felt trapped.
And, and I think we’re gonna still see, uh, we’re still gonna see migration from up north. But I, I, I certainly think if we market this right, you on the county level, me and the, on the retail level, um, the, the second home, uh, pitch, uh, for people to come down to Florida. And that way if, if international borders are shut, right, even if everything’s okay mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but international borders are shut, which we’re going to see that sooner and more often in our lifetimes when as other threats happen, because Right. As we know from, from watching the politics, you know, if this was to happen again in another country, we’ll shut that inter we’ll, we’ll probably shut the international border a lot sooner. Um, and then people from New York or Connecticut can come down to Florida to their second home and have a little bit of, of a vacation experience.
Robert Weinroth:
Look, there’s no question that people have discovered Florida for what it is, which is a very business friendly state, and also a place where you can live a lot more affordably than you can up in the northeast. Taxes are certainly lower here. People are coming down with a, uh, a bag of cash after selling their That’s true. Their, their homes up several bags of cash. Uh, yeah. And, uh, so they
Matthew Maschler:
Show up, they show up on doors. I, I had a, someone I was gonna list their home in, in Boca Grove, and, uh, someone showed up in their doorstep with a couple duffle bags of
Robert Weinroth:
Cash. And, uh, you know, obviously that’s the, uh, that’s not the, the, the, the norm. Yeah. But still people are, are overbidding listings down here, and they’re doing it as cash offers mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So someone like your kids or my kids are being pushed out of the market, because if you want a mortgage contingency, it’s just not gonna happen. It,
Matthew Maschler:
It is difficult. So let’s talk about you for a little bit. Before you were, uh, the mayor of Palm Beach County, and on the County Commission, uh, you were the, the Vice Mayor of Boca Raton.
Robert Weinroth:
I was actually, I was a deputy mayor. Deputy
Matthew Maschler:
Mayor,
Robert Weinroth:
Yeah. I was sure. And that was also one of those things where we chose, among the five of us who would be deputy mayor, as I all alluded to before, our, our mayor here in the city of Bo Raton, Scott Singer. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> is elected mayor. And then the four, uh, co uh, members of the city council and the mayor decide who will be the deputy. Now, in most instances, that just means they’re gonna run the meeting if the mayor’s unavailable. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, however, the deputy mayor actually was elevated to mayor a few years back when the mayor was unable to complete her term. I remember that.
Matthew Maschler:
So
Robert Weinroth:
It actually played out. They ultimately became mayor by election. So there is the opportunity that you, if you’re in the right spot, it might, uh, elevate you that next position. Which do
Staci Garcia:
You like better?
Robert Weinroth:
Well, I think that the County commission has been a, a little bit better for two reasons. One, it’s a more broad, uh, uh, expanse of responsibilities. I’m responsible for the, uh, the trash, the solid waste authority, the palm trend, the bus service, the, uh, the, the airport. We work in collaboration with the sheriff. So that’s the jail. And that’s other things. So it’s, it’s much more expansive. And it also gives me a, a better, uh, backup as far as staff. When we were in the city, four of us had one member of the city staff to sort of keep us outta trouble. I have three members of a county staff that have that responsibility. So it’s, it’s, you know, I’m enjoying it. I’m very happy having served this last four years. If the voters see me as the one that they’re gonna keep in office, I’m hoping I will be there for another four years.
Matthew Maschler:
Well, you, you will have my endorsement, or you do have my endorsement. Thank you.
Staci Garcia:
Um, are you on the highways part too?
Robert Weinroth:
I am also on what’s called the Transportation Planning Agency.
Staci Garcia:
I read your post on Facebook, which has probably, um, probably had chapters written on how this highway, um, overpass was gonna happen.
Robert Weinroth:
Well, remember that. And there’s a lot going on in our, in our city mm-hmm. <affirmative> and in our county. And, uh, the Transportation Planning Agency has a responsibility of taking all those federal dollars that are coming and the state dollars from the gas taxes and allocating them and identifying which projects should be done first. And as you mentioned, right here in Boca Raton, we have a brand new interchange right. At Glades and I 95. And that’s gonna be very interesting when that gets fully completed.
Staci Garcia:
Yeah. It’s pretty crazy over there.
Robert Weinroth:
Pretty crazy <laugh>. Hopefully we’re gonna move traffic a little faster when that’s all done. Right.
Matthew Maschler:
Sometimes I, I look at the, the, the line of people getting off on Glad Road, and I’m like, I’ll go to the next exit.
Robert Weinroth:
Yeah. Well, so go ahead.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. Go As, um, when you run the city council. Yeah. Um, you know, the city ends. People don’t realize that there’s, uh, the, the western part of Boca Raton is, is technically outside the city
Robert Weinroth:
Limits. It’s not Boca Raton
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh>. Well, it’s
Robert Weinroth:
West, it’s a coast office. It’s Boca, Boca Raton.
Matthew Maschler:
It’s a Bo Raton address. So it was actually funny, I had a client who, who didn’t wanna buy in seven Bridges mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because it was Delray. And they waited for Boca Bridges, and they spent $200,000 more on the exact same model, the exact same house, because they had a Boca address instead of a Delray address.
Robert Weinroth:
Well, that happened years ago with Polo. Yeah. So, yeah, people of want that Boca half of Polo Club
Matthew Maschler:
Address. So Polo Club of Bo, half of it is in Boca Raton, half of is in Delray, but neither is in the city of Boca Raton or Delray. They’re both in unincorporated Palm Beach County.
Robert Weinroth:
And the funny story is, when I first ran for public office, when I ran for city council, the first time I had friends from out west, cuz I used to live in Mission Bay, I used to live in Boca Falls west of 4 41. So I had people calling me up, says, Bob, I went to the, the, to the polls. They won’t let me vote for you. I said, you don’t live in the city, but I live in Boca Raton. No, you don’t live in the city. We let you borrow that name for your, your post office address, but you’re not here.
Matthew Maschler:
So I try to, I I try to always explain that to people when, when we start our search, and it’s just so difficult because it’s so hard to understand that they, they can use county beaches, not city beaches, county parks. And there’s a county beach right next to every city beach, and there’s a county library and a city library. And, and you just have to, you have to explain it. But, uh, ha there’s been talk over the years of, uh, of incorporation West Boca, the city of West Boca Raton. Well, or the city of West Boca. Do you think that’s ever a possibility?
Robert Weinroth:
I don’t think so, because once upon a time someone looked into it, and I think they realized that if they became West Boca, it would be a a, it would re create and a reduction in their real estate price. Ah. That all the, it’d be like West Palm Beach and Palm Beach. If they
Matthew Maschler:
West incorporated the city of, of West Boca, if they changed their address to West Boka, 33, 4,
Robert Weinroth:
Whatever, same, same zip. But even
Matthew Maschler:
West Boca,
Robert Weinroth:
All of a sudden now as the Prestige West Boka, they lose that cash ship.
Matthew Maschler:
Oh, that’s interesting. So see, I’ve always felt, sometimes I felt, not you, but sometimes I’ve always felt that the city didn’t really care about what happened west as if there was like an imaginary line. There was, on military, there’s an imaginary line. So any, any overdevelopment they would just ignore. And, um, and, and once I heard a, a politician at, at city, uh, fish Market, which is an unincorporated say, Hey, maybe we can move these meetings into the city limits. And I, I just thought that was a terrible attack on me. Here’s a wonderful business. They’re spend, we’re spending a lot of money as customers, and you’re standing in this business telling the, telling the customers not to come back to this business. I thought that was a little, uh, uh, difficult at a debate. It wasn’t, you know, it was, it
Robert Weinroth:
Was, well, you know, look, it’s, it’s comes down to land use. Yeah. If you’re living west of the turnpike, you’re coming to the county commission. Right. For an approval for a new restaurant. All that new development you saw down past, uh, lions on glads, that whole redevelopment there, uh, they call that Uptown. Uptown, yeah. And that was all approved by the County Commission. So
Matthew Maschler:
Now, but of the seven members County Commission, you’re the only representative of that area of West Boca?
Robert Weinroth:
Yes and no. I am elected
Matthew Maschler:
Elected representative.
Robert Weinroth:
I am, uh, it’s a single member district. So each one of us is elected by the people within their district. But when the matters come before us, all seven of us vote. So even if the thing is in Jupiter or if it’s out in Pokie or it’s in Lake Worth Beach, I am still going to have to review it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and I can be one of the four votes that are necessary to, uh, pass it.
Matthew Maschler:
So if someone believed that the, that the County Commission doesn’t really care what happens in, in the southern part of the county or the West Boca part of the county, that that wouldn’t be true.
Robert Weinroth:
I’m not saying that they have the same attention span. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, certainly if you have been elected by District one, Jupiter is going to be in your face, and you’re going to try and make sure that they’re happy. But on the other hand, you can’t just sit on your hands or go out and get some coffee because we’re talking about West Boca or Boca or Lakeworth or whatever. So do people, county commissioners, do
Matthew Maschler:
People def, do other commissioners defer to you as the elected person of that district? A little bit
Robert Weinroth:
More. There is a, a, a, a modicum of that. And on the other hand, sometimes they’ll gang up on someone. Mm. Uh, let’s say they wanted, many years ago, they wanted to put a, uh, Inc incinerator out at the end of, uh, Glades, and that was gonna be called Site One. And so if nobody else wants it in their district, you know, the other six say, Weinroth, you win, we’re putting into your district. So it’s, it can work both ways. There is deference to the county commissioner. There is an expectation. The county commissioner has more understanding of the issues. So District five, which tends to be South Palm Beach County, but west of the Turnpike is my colleague Maria Sachs. Uhhuh <affirmative>. She would be the one who would be more focused on the bridges. And, uh, what’s going on over by 4 41 in the Ag Reserve.
Matthew Maschler:
So Boca Falls and, and, and Boca Isles North and South. That’s in Maria Sack’s
Robert Weinroth:
District. That would be Maria Sax District. Uhhuh. <affirmative>, yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
Okay. So, so West Boka does really have two, um, people that would care about it from an elected point of view. Because
Robert Weinroth:
Look, I’m, I don’t ignore the West.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. Well, there’s a, there’s a good portion of West Boka that’s in your, your
Robert Weinroth:
Area. Right. And look, um, the, the Federation, the Jewish Federation in South Palm Beach is in District five, but I am very sure focused on them and what they need to build out that campus. So, you know, I’ll get as involved as, uh, commissioner Sax in those issues.
Matthew Maschler:
Okay. That’s amazing. Yeah.
Staci Garcia:
I don’t really have anything to say. Oh,
Robert Weinroth:
Come
Matthew Maschler:
On, <laugh>. You’re always so good with the questions.
Staci Garcia:
No, it, it’s because it, I I feel like I, I’m sitting with a former Boca City council member instead of a
Matthew Maschler:
Current mayor of Palm
Staci Garcia:
County. Yeah. So my, my questions are more like Boca Center, ask them.
Robert Weinroth:
That’s fine. I’m still, I’m still a resident
Staci Garcia:
Here. Would would the city annex any more, any further West?
Robert Weinroth:
It’s funny you should mention that. When I was on the city council mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we were putting the opportunities of annexation, either going north, because remember, uh, we had an, a voluntary annexation of the old polo fields that Right. Were Yeah. Uh, basically developed, which is
Matthew Maschler:
Now Royal pom polo.
Robert Weinroth:
Royal pom polo. Exactly. And then Zuora, which is directly north, which now would be contiguous, said, well, what about us? And then across the street, there were a couple of communities said, well, what about us? Yeah. And so we did some analysis and it came back that we could have annexed and wound up with more tax revenue than the cost of bringing those communities in, which is the same thing they do with town center mm-hmm. <affirmative> when they annex that. But the residents pushed back and they said, we don’t feel that we wanna see the city continue to grow because we feel that it’s gonna lose its character, the residents of Boca, the existing resident of Boca, who would have to actually
Staci Garcia:
Approve it also. Don’t you think it was because they were sharing, uh, they’re sharing their fire and their police?
Robert Weinroth:
No. Cause you, no. Cuz you’d get more. Right. You’d have more money and you’d spend more money on fire and more money on police. So you’d grow your department. I think it came down to the fact that people who live in the city feel that they have a different perspective. Right. Than the people who are out in the, uh, you know, sound Woodfield Country Club. They see that as a little different so that their vote would be diluted. Exactly. But by all these, uh, westerners, it wouldn’t be a lack of service, but it’d be a lack of attention. Right. Yeah. Of specialists. And so the, the idea really never took off. And when I left, uh, it, it just sort of passed.
Staci Garcia:
I think you left it a good time also. I mean, not to say that, uh, there is a good time to leave, but there is a lot of controversy over all the building. Right. All the construction.
Robert Weinroth:
Look, I, I’ve gotta tell you, some of those buildings were buildings that I approved. Right. I’m living in one right now that I approved. There’s one down the street called Tower 1 55. That Tower one, proof five is spectacular. I sold a few units there. I mean, there’s a lot good mm-hmm. <affirmative> that’s happened. Yeah. And people who used to complain and then, you know, I don’t wanna pick on people, but people, especially in the, in what we call the Golden triangle, I
Staci Garcia:
Know the Golden Triangle.
Robert Weinroth:
When Meisner was being built, they were vehemently against it. You’re gonna destroy our city. And those homes, which used to be two and $300,000. Yeah. They’re 4 million now. Million dollar Knockdowns. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. So I
Staci Garcia:
Know, you know, I just drove through it to get here.
Robert Weinroth:
But on the other hand, there are people who say, look, I’d liked it the way it was.
Staci Garcia:
Well, it’s funny because my children don’t know how it used to be. Right. So I used to live at the very end of Palm Meadow on Wavecrest Way, Northeast Wavecrest Way, and I would walk to the beach and roller blade every day. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, in 1992 ish. And, uh, it was, uh, like, um, you know, a quiet most of the time. Sure. When I dropped, when, when, before all of my kids were driving, I was driving them to the end of Palmetto to drop them off to hang with their friends. And it was like a city over there. And I was like, oh my God. Oh my God, look at all these people, you know, where did they come from?
Robert Weinroth:
E Except then I think we all have to recognize along the ocean. It needs to be urbanized. We need to have the extra density. The land is so expensive now. Yeah. You have to go vertical. These buildings that are coming in now, the Elena projects mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they have to go up to 110 feet Tall. Tall. They have to be nine or 10 stories, because otherwise they can’t afford the, the the property. Yeah. The property. So, and being a city, then we have the opportunities to put additional investment in for transportation. Right. For entertainment. Businesses can thrive, restaurants can thrive. So it’s part of, you know, the development of this core along I 95 Lake Worth Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, and going right up to, uh, you know, I I, I forget where, you know, continues up Palm Beach Gardens, all of these places are, are building out and building up.
So speaking of transportation, when does the, uh, bright Line Station open? Good thing that I know that it’s probably gonna be by the end of the year. They have been saying November Uhhuh <affirmative>. I think we’re closer probably to, and as I drove by the other day, Pam said, nah, it’s not making November <laugh>. I, I think we’re looking at either the end of this year or early next year. I know they’re moving very quickly. I am excited about it because they will pick you up if you’re within five miles of that station, they’ll pick up who, who pick up Bright Line, Uhhuh. <affirmative>. They had these yellow vans. In fact, if you have, I, I’ve gone down to Miami and to go to Miami, I’ll drive to Fort Lauderdale, park the car mm-hmm. <affirmative> in their station, and then go down to Miami. And then from the station in Miami, they’ll then drive me to wherever my meeting is. Right. And then pick me up when I need to be picked up, bring me back to the station. All of that is at no charge. So Macy’s, the Town Center Mall is four and a half miles away. So do you think they would go to the Town Center mall to pick people up? I don’t see why not. That sounds
Staci Garcia:
Great. They would, I think they would have a stop on that. On the route on Butts Road where everybody stops
Robert Weinroth:
Butts. Well, remember you have all those buses right there and it’s a perfect place. That’s
Staci Garcia:
What I’m talking about, where the buses
Robert Weinroth:
Are. Yep. And we need to have, again, Palm Tran needs to feed Tri Rail. Right. And Bright Line, we need to get people a more, you know, if you have an opportunity to get someplace and it’s gonna cost you less, you don’t have to pay for gas, you don’t have to worry about parking, and you can sit and do your homework or take a nap. Right. What are you gonna do? I
Staci Garcia:
Think once people, once people get a, uh, I don’t know, used to the idea of leaving their car, cuz the car is the part where they get a little nervous. What’s gonna happen if I’m there and I don’t have my car? Right. How am I gonna get Homer? What if I missed the last train?
Robert Weinroth:
So if I wanna go to a heat game, how close does it get me to the stadium? Very close. Very close. Yeah. Dolphins game? No. Dolphins. No. But, uh, the heat game, you’ll be able to take the, uh, the, the people mover. The people mover, Marlon’s. Oh, well Marlon’s is the same state. Well, no, that’s down in, uh, uh, little Havana. I don’t know. Yeah. Yeah. But certainly for heat game, it would be the, the best way. You wouldn’t have to pay someone to keep an eye on your car on the street. I remember doing that for years. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And what about the airport? How does it, how does it connect to the airport? Actually, I think, uh, tri Rail has got a better connection for both Miami and for the, uh, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and what and North. Can we go to Orlando? Yes.
Soon. Soon. Open. Mean they are running the trains along that track. Now they’re, you know, and, and there are spots they still have to work on. But the, uh, the idea is to go up to Orlando and it’s not gonna go to Disney Village. It’s gonna go to the Convention center. Convention Center on Night Drive. Yeah. And so from there, you’ll be able to take the little yellow bus and, and go to the, uh, but is it high speed like a Japanese train? Not as high speed as they had promised originally. And that’s because some of our residents are a little too silly. They, uh, <laugh> to get out of the way. It’s dangerous. <laugh> Well, it’s only dangerous if you don’t abide by these things that come down. They’re called Gates. Gates. The lights, the lights are going off. Alarms, you’re not supposed to go around them.
Staci Garcia:
I think it’s, um, like Frogger. Yeah. It really is like Frogger. It’s like these people, they, you know, in Frogger, some of the trucks were slower and then the little cars were faster and they go zoom, zoom. And then the trucks were slower. These people think all the trucks or all the trains are the same rate, and then a bright line will fly by and
Robert Weinroth:
Take people out. Well, and that, that’s what happened about four, five months ago. In fact, they, they released the video from the, uh, the, the locomotive. They were going through the intersection at Lake Worth Beach. And a freight was going through slow. So slowly the cars had stopped slow. Right. And just as the freight finished, someone ran around the gate and guess what was coming in the direction? Bright Line.
Staci Garcia:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative> took
Robert Weinroth:
The car right out. They figured that’s the train. I can go around it. Yeah. I’m in a big rush. I I can’t wait another minute for that gate to go up.
Staci Garcia:
Ridiculous.
Robert Weinroth:
Well, that’s
Staci Garcia:
Crazy, but also comical. That’s crazy.
Robert Weinroth:
Well, it’s only comical if
Staci Garcia:
You’re not I know. I know. But it’s, it’s just, um, it’s, it was daily for a while. So it
Robert Weinroth:
Got, it was, and unfortunately we do have some mental health issues too. And then there have been some, what I would call suicide by train. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So, I mean, that’s, uh, unfortunate. We need to make sure that we’re helping people that problem. But until it opens, we don’t know how long it takes to take the train up to Orlando. Not yet. I mean, uh, I I can make a guess, but I certainly wouldn’t want to. I’m hoping it’s two hours or less. Oh, it should be two hours less. Absolutely. If it’s absolutely, if it’s 3, 3, 3 and a half hours, it’s like once it gets past, uh, Jupiter, it’s gonna put on, uh, start, start adding speed. Adding speed. Yeah. If go up to there in two hours, that would, that would be, yeah. I mean, game changer. Again, if people would stay off the tracks, they could move 80 miles, 90 miles an hour. But I think, uh,
Staci Garcia:
It’s yellow. You think that they see it coming? I
Robert Weinroth:
Think,
Staci Garcia:
Uh, I feel like, um, people have asked me as well, downtown at Mallory Square where the library used to be mm-hmm. <affirmative> or the library com Library Commons. Right. Um, that, is that a good place to invest or should we stay away from that way area because that’s where the train’s gonna be.
Robert Weinroth:
You know, that’s an interesting question because we have what we call TODs, transportation Oriented Development. And along those tracks, that is probably a very good place to be investing because again, you’re gonna put housing there and you couldn’t put shops there that people are gonna be able to get to more readily. They’re not gonna have to have a car. So we’re looking at the, uh, station, the Tri Rail station up in Delray, which is adjacent to county owned property. It’s called the, the South County Administrative Complex. Yeah. And that is an opportunity because you can have people living there, especially in workforce housing. They may not be able to afford a car, but being right there with Tri Rail, they are gonna be able to jump on the train and, and get to where they need to be. So, you know, if I was an investor, I would say that’s probably a prime place to invest.
Staci Garcia:
I was wondering, and the same thing with, we talked about the same area that, you know, is it gonna be good or is it gonna be bad? Um, the area behind Broken Sound North on Congress north of Yamato, north of Clint Moore, remember on the left, I said any anywhere over there? I was told that, um, I think it’s Linton and Congress, they were building a whole, uh, mall type of area.
Robert Weinroth:
I don’t think there’s any place in South Florida where you can really make a mistake. Yeah. I
Staci Garcia:
Mean, uh, well, everything’s new over there. Right.
Robert Weinroth:
And look, I know 30 years ago people looked out at 4 41 in West, they said, oh my God, no one’s ever gonna wanna live there. Right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, you know, there were, there were big tracks of land out there and people just, you know, thought it was never gonna develop. And I remember when it went from two to four lanes and it was like, wow, this is great. And now it’s crowded. And if you go north, actually if you go west on Southern, there is a new community out there. It’s called Arden.
Matthew Maschler:
When I, I mean, when I was a kid and I, and I visited my grandma who lived in Century Village, west Palm mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And we would take Southern all the way out there to Lion Country Safari. Right. It was like the end of the world. Exactly. And, and Arden is not as far as
Robert Weinroth:
They called it the, a agri hood.
Staci Garcia:
And it is, that’s what they call it, the a agri hood. Yeah. And it’s
Robert Weinroth:
Hilarious. It’s beautiful. It is. Absolutely.
Staci Garcia:
No, I’ve driven by Arden because I had to take one of my sons to get his driver’s license in Pa Hoki because we, that’s the only available appointment. And he was like, I need it on my birthday.
Matthew Maschler:
Did you go to the new, the new dmv? I
Staci Garcia:
Don’t, the, the one I went to is definitely not new <laugh>, but, um,
Matthew Maschler:
There’s a new one and it is
Staci Garcia:
Gorgeous. Really? This one wasn’t that one. But cuz we had to pass Arden and Blank Country Safari heading all the way up northwest ish. And it took like two hours to get his license, but we were only there for like a minute. Right. Yeah. Um, but I, I saw that they’re building out there we’re like, where we used to think Lion Country Safari was a day trip. Yeah. People go and live there and they have beautiful communities just east of there, I think.
Matthew Maschler:
Well, and the prices in the prices in 2022, price, I mean people are paying 700, 800 minimum for, for these houses starting prices in these
Robert Weinroth:
Houses. I remember, and I don’t know if you remember, there was a development on the corner of military and Spanish River. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> over on the, I guess it must be the
Staci Garcia:
Across from the cemetery.
Robert Weinroth:
Yeah. Modern across from the cemetery. Modern. Yes. Yes. And they were originally selling for like 400,000. Yeah. And you say, who wants Million wants to live there, right? Yeah. And now they’re what?
Staci Garcia:
Oh, we had a, we had a promo for them. Remember?
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. Well, uh, I don’t always talk about it, but I’m a, I’m one of the owners of the Garden cemetery across the street mm-hmm.
Robert Weinroth:
<affirmative>. So people are dying to get in there.
Matthew Maschler:
Well, we were ha gonna have our, we were gonna have like the corporate, uh, apartment at the modern, like you can have
Robert Weinroth:
A Oh, okay. Like a
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. If
Staci Garcia:
You can
Matthew Maschler:
Stay, you know, like the, have the country clubs have a stay to see if you like
Robert Weinroth:
It. Right. So you,
Staci Garcia:
You can stay, you, you can visit or
Robert Weinroth:
You can take a drawer. One or the other. Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
If you, if you’re visiting your parents, you have the overnight trip that has <laugh>, but that’s not nothing really. Not
Staci Garcia:
Somebody. Those, that area. Um, my boys were going to Don Trich and I was thinking, who would wanna live on this corner? It’s a terrible corner to live.
Matthew Maschler:
It’d be great. Least for a
Staci Garcia:
Guest. $2 million
Robert Weinroth:
For, well, and it, it went back, a Coulter owned that spot and it went back and forth between being commercial and residential mm-hmm. <affirmative> and back to commercial and residential. Who would wanna live on that corner? Apparently a lot of people.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. But you have the high school, you have the everything right there in cemetery. It’d be great spot
Robert Weinroth:
For a Wawa, you a brand new, uh, elementary right there. Yep. That they just built the, the
Matthew Maschler:
Library. By the way, the Linton Congress piece you’re talking about is the old, um, office Depot headquarters. Right. Where they had the three buildings mm-hmm. <affirmative> and the, and the, the, the, I think that, I dunno if it’s, if it was, uh, Delray or Boynton, they wanted, they wanted to, to take it down and then like rebuild it with, you know, commercial, retail, residential. Look,
Robert Weinroth:
They have to activate Congress. Yeah. That is a real empty spot where a lot of, uh, commerce can be. And that’s why, again, I think that the spot we own the county, the administrative complex is being wasted by what’s Yeah. The way it’s being used right now. And I’m hoping that I can convince the county to reimagine what we can be doing with that spot.
Matthew Maschler:
So when you mentioned transportation, you said transportation and entertainment. So I have an entertainment question. Okay. Uh, Meiser Park Amphitheater. Yes. It’s a wonderful place to see a concert, but it’s very, very hot and it’s in the sun. What’s going on over there? You’ve made some changes.
Robert Weinroth:
Well, there is a young lady by the name of Andrea Virgin, who has for the last two or three years been lobbying hard to get the city council to give a land lease on that property so that they can build a performing arts center. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And she has rounded up a lot of donors who feel that it’s time for Boca to have its own cultural center there, a performing arts center. If the city council ultimately approves the contract with her, her entity, then I think then the next two or three years there will be a performing art center there, which is a perfect place. Now that bright line is gonna come essentially within blocks of there. They’ll be over by the library and people can come in from Fort Lauderdale, they can come in from West Palm Beach and people from Boca Raton can go there and they’re gonna modernize the, uh, the, the amphitheater as well as having the indoor theater, which would have multiple uses. So I think that there’s a great opportunity, I think that, uh, this would be the, the missing piece for the Meisner Park.
Matthew Maschler:
And, um, but the plans and the building plans, none of that’s been proposed or, or
Robert Weinroth:
At this point, they really, the city council has been wrestling with the contract and worrying about liability and, and all that kind of stuff. The lawyers worry about.
Matthew Maschler:
If I’m picturing like the Kravis Center or the Broward Center, is that what they have in mind?
Robert Weinroth:
This would be smaller. Smaller. Yeah. This would, I I I don’t think it’ll be more than a couple of thousand seats. I don’t know exactly what it is. It’ll be multipurpose. In fact, in the drawings that I’ve seen, they’ll have seats that will actually fall into the ground. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> of the floor, so that it would be an open space and you can have parties in there and, and other types of events. It wouldn’t just be an auditorium. So it’s a very ambitious, uh, opportunity to, to redevelop that area. I know there are a lot of cultural, uh, organizations, not the least of which is the Boca Ballet. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, which would love to have that as a home. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so it’s gonna be a matter of seeing whether the, the attorneys for the city and the attorneys for the, uh, the, the performing arts, uh, uh, center can come together and, and, uh, find the way of doing this.
Matthew Maschler:
Originally I was thinking if it was like a Kravis or a Broward Center, if it, if it could attract that Broadway across America’s series, that would be great to be able to stay in Boca not have to travel all the way down for Lauderdale. Um, but you, you strike my interest with something that maybe, um, you can introduce me to the right people when they are designing it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Cause if it is something where you, you won’t, wouldn’t have fixed seating or, um, and, and it was an event space. Uh, I think I can, uh, I know someone who’d wanna do a, a monthly, uh, wrestling show <laugh> a
Robert Weinroth:
Wrestling show
Matthew Maschler:
In a space like that.
Robert Weinroth:
Well, I, I heard that there was a wrestling show last week at the Y Yes. Did you know anything about that?
Matthew Maschler:
Yes. I put on a, uh, a wrestling show at the Y M C A in their gymnasium. Um, it was great. But if we could have a permanent home in, in me park,
Staci Garcia:
It really would be
Matthew Maschler:
Awesome to run, to run a show once a month with, uh, you know, share it with the ballet. I that could be,
Robert Weinroth:
You know, was fantastic. I remember when I was growing up wrestling, I remember Bruno, San Martin, Bruno San Martino. I mean, I, that’s the, that’s emblazoned in my memory. He
Matthew Maschler:
Sold out Madison Square Garden more than any other person, you know, you know, Nixon and Rangers, you know. Sure. But no other person has sold out Madison Square Garden more than Bruno Santino.
Robert Weinroth:
That’s amazing. That’s amazing.
Matthew Maschler:
Maybe I’ll have you on the Matthew Mania podcast one day too. I would love to
Robert Weinroth:
Talk wrestling. I’d love to come by.
Matthew Maschler:
So,
Staci Garcia:
Dick Matthew, um, the Boton Championship Wrestling could be, um, sponsor, could be sponsor for the, uh, um, future. I don’t wanna call it an
Matthew Maschler:
Amphitheater cuz it would be more
Robert Weinroth:
Than event Center Performing Arts Center.
Matthew Maschler:
Performing Arts center. Performing arts center. And wrestling is a, is definitely a performing art. It sure is.
Robert Weinroth:
Some would say it’s theater. It
Matthew Maschler:
Is theater. <laugh>. It’s theater live and then round. It’s painful, painful theater. It can be painful. All right. Well, thank you so much for, for joining us, uh, mayor Weinroth. It’s
Robert Weinroth:
Been my pleasure.
Matthew Maschler:
Um, I know you have a campaign coming up in November. How does somebody find out more information about your campaign?
Robert Weinroth:
Uh, it’s very nice of you to ask if people are interested in learning more about me. It’s robert weinroth.com.
Matthew Maschler:
Robert weinroth.com. And if you, uh, would like to make a donation to the Robert Weinroth campaign, I certainly will. We, we endorse him here. He is a great mayor and a great citizen of Boca Raton. Uh, so please, uh, support him either financially or if you live in the city of Boca Raton. Uh, please go vote. Do you vote on election day, November?
Robert Weinroth:
You can vote early voting. You can vote by mail and of course you can vote on election day. On
Matthew Maschler:
Election. Well, I know there’s, the primaries are just happened. Mars are
Robert Weinroth:
Done.
Matthew Maschler:
But like the city is in February and primaries are August
Robert Weinroth:
The municipal elections. Yeah. For people who are gonna be on the city council is in March. Is in March. Yeah. So the general election is in November. You’ll be electing a governor, a senator, a commissioner, maybe a state rep. There’ll be a lot of people on that ballot.
Matthew Maschler:
All right. Right. Well thank you so much. I’m vote for Pam <laugh>, the driving force behind the One Roth campaign. Thank you, Pam.
Robert Weinroth:
Thank you so much, Matt.
Speaker 4:
The future looks bright and the stones pass by the skies dog. Blue, when it’s almost that time, light shows cameras flash when I pass living in the moment, forget about the past. They saved the best for last. Matthew Mania. We about to make a splash. Life is a marathon full of sharp terms. Gotta keep pace while the hands on the pop hot sticks. Five star. I run a show, you can tell the boss play electricity energy. Five. I’m always on sound. Even if I make dreams come true. Living my life. Hope the same for you. Success in my sights got a real clear view. If you dunno the time, I’ll give you a clue.
Speaker 5:
You know what time, you know what time, you know what time it is. You know what time, you know what time, you know what time is. You know what, you know what you know what time. Its, you know what song, know what, you know what time it is.
Speaker 4:
You know what time its, you know it. You know what time it, you know what you know whose time it’s, you know what time It’s Matthew Mania. The time it says. Yeah. Got him shook, scared. Can look. We’re not afraid in a big bad wolf. First comes the right.
