Boca's Newest Public Park Opens Back to Front, Starting With a Pickleball Club on Nov. 18

North Park is Boca Raton's newest public park, but the trees, trails and dog park come last. The first building, Boca Paddle by CityPickle, opens on Nov. 18 at West Jeffrey Street and North Dixie Highway, north of Yamato Road. The park's walking trails, dog park and playground aren't expected to be substantially complete until June 2027. That means that from opening day until next summer, the main reason to visit the park will be a racquet club and its restaurant.

That order matters if you live nearby. The park belongs to the public, the club is the first thing finished, and the club's restaurant is the one part of it you can walk into without paying anything.

What's Actually Open on the Old Ocean Breeze Course

The site is the former Ocean Breeze golf course. The Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District bought the closed course in 2018 and is turning it into a 212-acre public park. At the Sept. 3 groundbreaking, the Boca Raton Tribune reported that District executive director Briann Harms called the project "a long time coming."

Here is the order things are opening in, based on the District's September 2026 capital projects overview:

1. September 2025. The Traffic Garden opened on resurfaced former tennis courts at the park's northwest corner. It's a car-free practice street with stop and yield signs, crosswalks and bike lanes where children can learn to ride safely. It was meant to be temporary, but it will stay open until that corner is redeveloped.
2. Nov. 18, 2026. Boca Paddle by CityPickle opens on the park's southeast portion.
3. Still in permitting. The skatepark and pump track passed the Community Appearance Board on Sept. 1 and the Planning and Zoning Board on Sept. 3, both unanimously. The District has now started permitting.
4. June 2027. Phase I of the park's east side is expected to be substantially complete.

Phase I adds most of what people picture when they hear "park": trails, more than 1,000 trees, restrooms, picnic areas, playground improvements, fitness equipment and a dog park, plus parking, fencing and restored green space. The District board awarded that work to Butters Construction & Development for $19,741,054.81 on June 22, 2026. The future of the park's west side was still undecided as of the September update.

Why the Club Got There First

The two projects moved at different speeds.

Boca Paddle was set up as a public-private partnership. The District picked the Malcolm Butters group in March 2024 and approved the contract in August 2024. The club broke ground in June 2025 and started construction in August 2025.

The park's east side took three rounds of bidding. The first four bids all came in over the District's budget, so they were rejected and the scope was refined. The second round was rejected too, after the City took over the pedestrian tunnel portion of the project. The third round produced the June 2026 award.

The two projects are also linked underground. In August 2025, the District board approved containing some of the site's soil contamination beneath the Boca Paddle building. That's a state-approved method that avoided the higher cost of hauling the soil away, and the District said it cleared the way for the pavilions, trails and playground planned next door. In practice, the club's building had to go in before the park around it could.

A Club the Public Owns

The District, not a private developer, owns both the building and the land. Boca Paddle runs it. That ownership is why the club is open to people who aren't members.

In a Q&A with the Boca Raton Tribune, Butters Construction CEO Malcolm Butters said the first round of memberships is capped at 1,000. Anyone else can buy a day pass, and Boca Raton residents pay less. The prices below come from The Palm Beach Post's report, published Oct. 2:

The restaurant matters most for people who don't play. Mitchell Robbins, who founded Farmer's Table Boca Raton, created Farmer's Kitchen as a health-focused restaurant. Butters told the Tribune it will be "fully open to the public, with no membership or day pass required to dine." Co-founder Brian Levine, who lives in Boca Raton, told the Post he hopes people "who have never swung a paddle" will come by for dinner and drinks and watch a match. Restaurant hours haven't been announced yet.

There will be plenty to watch. The club has 25 courts: 19 for pickleball and six high-clearance courts for padel. Sixteen courts are indoors and air-conditioned. Of the nine outdoor courts, five are covered. Every court has cameras and a 70-inch monitor for keeping score and replaying points. The centerpiece is a 1,000-seat stadium court called The Royal Court. The Post reported that the club will be home to the Palm Beach Royals, a Major League Pickleball team. The Royals haven't yet published a schedule of matches at the new club.

The club also has a few things that aren't about playing: locker rooms with showers, saunas, a cold-plunge pool, physical therapy, coworking space and private phone booths. For beginners, Levine told the Post that some courts will be set aside for first-time players.

Where Patch Reef and Sugar Sand Fit Now

Boca Paddle isn't the city's first covered public option. The Patch Reef Paddle & Racquet Club at 2000 Yamato Rd. opened an 18-court covered pickleball complex in October 2025. Those 18 public courts include two that are ADA-accessible. In September 2026, Patch Reef also finished rebuilding its existing courts, including 12 pickleball courts.

So the two biggest covered pickleball options in Boca are about a year apart and roughly the same size. Patch Reef has 18 covered courts. Boca Paddle has 14 indoor, air-conditioned pickleball courts plus covered courts outside. The real difference is air-conditioning, and that matters most in the months when shade alone isn't enough.

Patch Reef currently lists these open-play hours:

• Weekday mornings: 7:30 to 11:45 a.m.
• Weekday evenings: 4:45 p.m. to close
• Weekends: 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Patch Reef's online booking checks your affiliation, and staff verify residency documents in person, so bring them on your first visit.

Sugar Sand Park Field House runs indoor open play at times that change week to week. It costs $4 for residents and $8 for nonresidents, and the City posts the monthly schedule and a hotline at (561) 347-3915. For a casual game, the courts at Hillsboro El Rio Park South are first-come, first-served.

Levine told the Post that as more people took up the game, players across Boca and Palm Beach County struggled to find enough covered, climate-controlled courts to play year-round. Patch Reef's covered courts were the District's first answer to that problem. Boca Paddle is the second, and it's the one with air-conditioning.

Between Now and June 2027

For the next several months, visiting North Park will mostly mean the club and the Traffic Garden. The Phase I work and the skatepark permitting will be going on around them. When the Tribune covered the groundbreaking, it described Phase I as walking and riding trails, a dog park and a playground. All three are scheduled for June 2027, not this winter.

If you want a look before Nov. 18, hard-hat tours of the club have been open since Oct. 7 and can be booked through Boca Paddle's website. The site still lists Nov. 18 as the grand opening and also handles membership presales. The Tribune gives the address as 50 W. Jeffrey St. The District's North Park project page has the plans for everything else as the work moves forward.

If you spend part of the year in Boca and part on the island, the new courts and the restaurant may change where your weekday mornings start this winter. For a straightforward answer on how in-town Palm Beach compares, call Cappy directly at Palm Beach Residential Properties. If you're thinking about selling a Palm Beach condo before season, ask about the Cappy Abraham Marketing Plan. List With Cappy.