A longtime market regular pulled into the north lot behind Boca Raton City Hall on a recent Saturday morning, canvas bags in hand, expecting the usual lineup of orchid vendors and folding tables stacked with heirloom tomatoes. The lot was empty. No smoothie stand, no live guitar, no line for fresh-cut flowers. Just City Hall, quiet as any weekday.
That confusion makes sense, because the market has not sat still long enough for anyone in Southeast Boca to memorize its current address. Over the past two seasons, the vendors who once set up behind City Hall's parking lot have packed up and relocated twice. The season opening later this month lands at a third address entirely: 5th Ave Shops on Federal Highway, just north of Glades Road.
Three Addresses, Two Seasons
For decades, the Boca Raton GreenMarket ran on Saturday mornings in the north parking area of City Hall, at 201 W Palmetto Park Road. The market's own promotional material once described itself as being in its 23rd year back in the 2019-2020 season, which puts its roots in the late 1990s. That's a two-decade run at one address, long enough that "Saturday at City Hall" became shorthand for the whole tradition.
Then the ground shifted. For the season that just wrapped, October 5, 2025 through May 3, 2026, the market's own marketing moved both the day and the neighborhood at once: Sundays, at Royal Palm Place, set up along Mizner Boulevard near the clock tower, in front of Another Broken Egg Cafe.
Now, for the season opening September 27, the market's current listing shows a different address altogether. Same day of the week, Sunday, same hours, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., but a new home at 5th Ave Shops, 1954 NE Fifth Ave, running through May 2, 2027.
| Season | Day | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Through 2019-2020 | Saturday | City Hall north lot, 201 W Palmetto Park Rd |
| Oct 2025 - May 2026 | Sunday | Royal Palm Place, near the Mizner Blvd clock tower |
| Sept 27, 2026 - May 2, 2027 | Sunday | 5th Ave Shops, 1954 NE Fifth Ave |
Three stops in roughly six years, two of them in the same twelve-month stretch, is not typical for an institution that had spent decades in one place.
A Coincidence With City Hall's Own Timeline
The market's departure from its old City Hall lot lines up with something bigger happening at that exact address. On January 20, 2026, Boca Raton's City Council adopted Ordinance No. 5769, authorizing a 99-year ground lease of roughly 7.8 acres of the city's Downtown Campus, the land east of NW 2nd Avenue, to Boca Raton City Center LLC, a partnership involving the Terra and Frisbie Group. The site sits near the downtown Brightline stop. The city kept ownership of the remaining acreage west of NW 2nd Avenue, about 17.5 acres including Memorial Park, reserved for civic and community use.
The deal was never final on its own. It required voter approval at a citywide referendum held March 10, 2026. The ballot question asked residents to weigh in on an agreement described as one
"creating a walkable neighborhood with residential, retail, office, and hotel uses"
on land that has functioned as the city's administrative and recreational backyard for generations. Financial projections presented to council put the ground rent alone at roughly $1.95 billion over the full 99-year term, or about $158.4 million in today's dollars, with additional city property tax revenue modeled at $83.5 million in net present value and another $52.6 million projected for the Community Redevelopment Agency.
Whichever way that March vote landed, the practical effect for anyone who used to grab produce behind City Hall on a Saturday is the same this season: that lot is caught up in the biggest downtown land deal Boca Raton has debated in years, and the market that used to call it home is no longer there.
What's Still at Royal Palm Place
Royal Palm Place itself hasn't gone anywhere, and residents who got used to Sunday mornings there over the past year will still find plenty of reasons to show up. The 14-acre downtown district celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2025 and still hosts more than 20 restaurants and shops along its brick walkways, from Another Broken Egg Cafe near the clock tower to boutiques like Alene Too and Whitaker Studio & Leon Fine Art Gallery. Parking throughout the property remains free.
What's changed is simply that the big Sunday farmers market crowd, the produce stands and the flower vendors, has moved on to a new host for this coming season. Royal Palm Place's own walkable mix of cafes and shops is still worth the stop. It just won't be where you find the GreenMarket's tomatoes this fall.
Finding the New Sunday Stop
5th Ave Shops sits on Federal Highway just north of Glades Road, a stretch most Southeast Boca residents already drive past regularly but may not have parked at for a market morning before. The market's current listing points to a season that opens September 27 and runs every Sunday through May 2, 2027, with the same 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. window that governed last year's stop at Royal Palm Place. Historically the market has drawn more than 65 vendors selling produce, seafood, baked goods, cut flowers, and prepared foods, with live music as part of the regular Sunday setup.
A quick cheat sheet for the season ahead:
- New address: 5th Ave Shops, 1954 NE Fifth Ave, Boca Raton
- Day and hours: Sundays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Season: September 27, 2026 through May 2, 2027
- Admission: Free
- What's typically there: produce, seafood, baked goods, flowers, live music
- What used to be there instead: Royal Palm Place, near the Mizner Blvd clock tower, through May 2026
What to Watch This Season
A market that has changed addresses twice in two years is not necessarily done moving. The City Hall campus project is still working through its post-referendum process, and the broader question of what happens to that 30-acre downtown government site, including whether recreational amenities there get relocated or rebuilt elsewhere, is likely to keep surfacing at council meetings through the rest of the year. Residents who want a reliable anchor for their Sunday routine are better off checking the market's own site directly each season rather than trusting last year's flyer, given how quickly the address line has changed lately.
For those of us who spend our weeks paying close attention to what's shifting in Southeast Boca, from a Sunday market's address to the deals shaping the blocks around it, these small changes tend to say something about the larger rhythm of the neighborhood. If you're weighing a move into this stretch of downtown, or wondering what a changing City Hall campus might mean for property values nearby, Judith Randon Realty is happy to talk through what we're seeing on the ground, market day or not.
