Tri-Rail’s Long-Awaited Transit-Oriented Development Breaks Ground in Boca Raton
The development by 13th Floor and Rockpoint will add 340 units
By Jeff Ostrowski February 13, 2026 2:00 pm
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Since Tri-Rail opened its Boca Raton, Fla., station in 2005, the rail line’s officials have talked about a transit-oriented development that would let residents and workers walk to the commuter rail service.
Nearly 21 years later, such a project has finally broken ground.
13th Floor Investments, a Miami-based developer, and Rockpoint, a Boston-based real estate private equity firm, formed a joint venture to develop Link at Boca, a new mixed-use multifamily community at 680 West Yamato Road. The 340-unit project is next door to a Tri-Rail station and steps from the Boca Raton Innovation Center, an employment hub just west of Interstate 95.
The launch of construction comes after decades of fits and starts, said David Dech, executive director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees Tri-Rail and owns the development site.
“This project is old enough to drink,” Dech joked during a groundbreaking ceremony.
Tri-Rail reported record ridership of 4.5 million passengers in 2025. However, developments adjacent to the rail line have been slow to materialize. Public officials who spoke at Thursday’s ceremony called the Boca groundbreaking the first transit-oriented project for Tri-Rail.
13th Floor Investments will lease the publicly owned land and build the eight-story apartment project that will feature 24,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.
13th Floor and Rockpoint secured $100 million in construction financing from Santander Bank. Construction is expected to be completed within two years.
13th Floor has two other transit-oriented projects in the works, although they’re both connected to the Metrorail service in Miami-Dade County rather than the Tri-Rail line, which extends along I-95 from Miami International Airport north to Mangonia Park in Palm Beach County. Tri-Rail also has added service to Downtown Miami.
13th Floor is building the second phase of Link at Douglas at the Douglas Road Metrorail station, and it plans to develop Link at SoMi near the South Miami Metrorail station.
Jeff Ostrowski can be reached at jostrowski@commercialobserver.com.
