HIALEAH, Fla. — In a special meeting at its Hialeah campus on Tuesday, the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to transfer more than two-and-a-half acres of land in downtown Miami to the state to build President Donald Trump’s presidential library.
The board first heard three-and-a-half hours of public comment about the sale of the land, located just off Biscayne Boulevard.
Those who support it say the honor and prestige the presidential library will have in South Florida, and its addition to the museums and Freedom Tower on Biscayne Boulevard, will bring economic benefits.
“Who are we to say no?” speaker Myriam Campos asked. “To put the library here in downtown Miami, Donald Trump belongs to South Florida, so what’s the problem with that?”
Some are opposed because of its location ― Freedom Tower was once a processing center for refugees fleeing Cuba ― and it being named after Trump, citing mass deportations and the language he has used about immigrants in the past.
The board faces a lawsuit filed by local activist Marvin Dunn and a trial set for August over allegations it violated the state’s open government law when it first voted to gift the parcel. The lawsuit said the board failed to provide sufficient notice for its special meeting on Sept. 23, when it voted to give up the property. A judge has temporarily blocked the college from formally transferring the land, while the lawsuit plays out.
Dunn was at Tuesday’s meeting and responded to the outcome.
“This is a waste of time to come here,” he said. “We have 20,000 letters that got sent to these board members saying, ‘Don’t do this.’”
The site is a developer’s dream and is valued at more than $67 million, according to a 2025 assessment by the Miami-Dade County property appraiser. One real estate expert wagered that the parcel — one of the last undeveloped lots on an iconic stretch of palm tree-lined Biscayne Boulevard — could sell for hundreds of millions of dollars more.
An agenda released ahead of the September meeting simply stated the board would consider conveying property to a state fund overseen by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet, but provided no details on which piece of property was being considered or why. Unlike the majority of the board’s other meetings, neither the September vote nor Tuesday’s redo were livestreamed.
A week after the initial vote, DeSantis and other top GOP officials voted to transfer the land again, effectively putting the property under the control of the Trump family when they deeded it to the foundation for Trump’s library. That foundation is led by three trustees: Eric Trump, Tiffany Trump’s husband; Michael Boulos; and the president’s attorney James Kiley.
Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
