Rockwell Group Updates a Historic Hotel in Boca Raton

Addison Mizner would be proud. One of the last projects of the early 20th–century American architect, who is perhaps best known for the Mediterranean revival mansions he built throughout Palm Beach, Florida, for his wealthy clientele, was the 1926 Ritz-Carlton Cloister Inn in Boca Raton. Over the decades, the waterfront resort and private club had been added onto in piecemeal fashion. Now, it is simply dubbed the Boca Raton, and, in anticipation of its centennial anniversary, commissioned hospitality authority Rockwell Group to renovate, expand, and cohere the property in the firm’s signature luxury and consideration of site.

The five-year project, led by partner Shawn Sullivan and co-studio leader, senior associate Merav Lahr, encompasses eight F&B venues and the main lobby, where a “law-office vibe,” Lahr notes, has been replaced with a monolithic quality via tumbled limestone floor slabs. The same material appears in the pool club, a new structure with arched windows and a teak ceiling that echo Mizner’s Mediterranean style. Rockwell’s scope also entailed the 244 guest rooms and suites inside an existing 27-story tower. Two floors were gutted to make way for one soaring three-bedroom townhouse, its nearly 4,000 square feet featuring plush custom furnishings suitable for today’s one-percenters.