Florida officials decided Tuesday to set aside nearly three acres of prime downtown Miami real estate next to the historic Freedom Tower as a potential site of the future presidential library of President Donald Trump.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet voted to give the parcel — appraised at more than $66 million — to the foundation that’s planning the president’s post-administration archives, arguing that the property owned by the state-run Miami Dade College would provide a “greater benefit to the public” and “increase economic development activities” as Trump’s library.
The property is flanked by glitzy condos in an iconic stretch of palm tree-lined Biscayne Boulevard, overlooking the waterfront park and across the street from the basketball arena that’s home to the Miami Heat. Miami Dade College has used it as an employee parking lot.
Under the state constitution, the gifting of certain state properties requires approval by a collective decision-making body comprised of the attorney general, the chief financial officer, and the commissioner of agriculture, as well as the governor.
Tuesday’s conveyance gives the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, Inc., control over a developer’s dream property. The foundation is led by three trustees: Eric Trump, Tiffany Trump’s husband Michael Boulos, and Trump attorney James Kiley.
“It will be the greatest Presidential Library ever built, honoring the greatest President,” Eric Trump said in a social media post.
The site is also adjacent to Freedom Tower, the historic Spanish Revival building that housed one of Miami’s first newspapers before serving as a resource center for hundreds of thousands of Cubans who fled communism and sought asylum in the United States. It is now a museum for the college.
Cuban Americans, who dominate politics in Miami, have voted overwhelmingly for Trump.
Locations associated with Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and Florida International University in suburban Miami had previously been floated as potential library sites. DeSantis signed a bill this year preempting local governments from blocking development of a presidential library, aiming to overrule potential opposition in liberal-leaning counties or municipalities.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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