The Glades Station shopping center, future home of Carmine’s, in Boca Raton, Fla., Sept. 2026. (Photo: Boca Daily News)
Construction is well underway on a massive Italian food market and adjacent shopping center in Boca Raton nearly three years after the project received initial city approvals.
Motorists driving on the eastern portion of Glades Road have likely noticed the construction of a new shopping center on a triangular lot located on the southwestern side of the intersection with Dixie Highway, next to the Brightline/FEC railroad tracks. The shopping center, approved in December 2023, is aptly named “Glades Station,” and is being constructed by developer Investments Limited, a real estate development firm located in Boca Raton and Cambridge, Mass.
Glades Station will be anchored by the second location of Carmine’s Gourmet Market, a massive Italian market, bakery, butcher and seafood shop, and catering service that has flourished after it opened in a 16,000 foot space in Palm Beach Gardens in 1988. Carmine’s expanded in the years since to a 15-department mega-market with an adjacent waterfront restaurant on a marina.
A rendering of the future Carmine’s market and restaurant at Glades Station in Boca Raton, FL. (Credit: Investments Limited)
The Glades Station shopping center, future home of Carmine’s, in Boca Raton, Fla., Sept. 2026. (Photo: Boca Daily News)
The Glades Station shopping center, future home of Carmine’s, in Boca Raton, Fla., Sept. 2026. (Photo: Boca Daily News)
The Boca Raton location will make up two portions of a 28,000 square foot, three-building complex designed by architect Armen Batmasian. One portion will include the market, which will sell butcher meats, seafood, produce, baked goods, delicatessen items, imported cheeses, wine, specialty groceries and prepared meals, while the other will host a fine dining restaurant. The third portion of the Glades Station complex – which had previously been zoned for industrial usage – will consist of office space for lease.
The restaurant portion is described as a “white-tablecloth Italian restaurant” serving traditional, classic dishes like lasagna, chicken francese, along with an extensive wine list. Both the restaurant and market are operated by restaurateur Carmine Giardini.
Investments Limited said the Boca Raton location of Carmine’s will primarily compete with Joseph’s Italian Market – a retail market with locations at Town Center and in West Delray Beach – and Eataly, a massive facility containing a multiple Italian markets and fine dining restaurants under one roof that opened to great fanfare in West Palm Beach last year. The company believes the region can support another Italian market based not only on the popularity of the current offerings, but a study that showed Boca Raton and Palm Beach County as a whole was home to an Italian-American population that is roughly double that of the state average, with 122,000 residents within the local buying radius.
The Glades Station shopping center, future home of Carmine’s, in Boca Raton, Fla., Sept. 2026. (Photo: Boca Daily News)
Carmine’s, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (Credit: Carmine’s)
The introduction of Carmine’s as an anchor of the shopping center – utilizing most of its commercial space between the market and restaurant – changes the plans from how Glades Station was originally conceived. When it was presented to the planning board and city council in 2023 and 2024, respectively, it was pitched as a shopping center with a fast-food restaurant with a drive-through lane, a casual restaurant, a fine dining restaurant and office space. Carmine’s will not occupy the entirety of the shopping center, however, though it will “play a significant role in shaping the identity of Glades Station,” Investments Limited said. It was not yet confirmed which other tenants may eventually move into some of the remaining spaces.
Investments Limited has said Carmine’s market and eatery are expected to open in the first quarter of 2027.
