Florida officials gift prime Miami real estate for Trump’s presidential library

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — 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.

It’s the latest demonstration by top Florida Republicans of their loyalty to Trump, who has shifted the center of his political universe to his adopted home state.

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. Now operated as a museum by the college, it’s considered a symbol of the city’s vibrant immigrant heritage.

The landmark tower has also been a site of recent protests against Trump’s crackdown on migrants. Cuban Americans, who dominate politics in Miami, have voted overwhelmingly for Trump. But his mass deportation agenda is increasingly viewed as a betrayal, leaving many second-guessing their support.

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.

___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.