Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is proposing that President Donald Trump build his presidential library on a site in downtown Miami.
“No state has better delivered the President’s agenda than the Free State of Florida, and we would be honored to house his presidential library here in his home state,” DeSantis said in a statement Tuesday announcing the plan.
The proposal sets aside about two-and-a-half acres of land adjacent to Miami’s historic Freedom Tower, currently being utilized as a parking lot for Miami Dade College. The Spanish Revival skyscraper housed one of the city’s first newspapers and later served as a resource center for hundreds of thousands of Cubans seeking asylum in the United States, according to its website.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, one of the four members including the governor who will be voting next week, posted on X that he’d helped with the project and it had his full support.
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“I can think of no better location to tell the story of Donald Trump — a story of strength, one of redemption, one of victory and one of sacrifice to the American people,” Uthmeier said in a video about how Florida would be setting the land aside for the library.
The county property appraiser valued the parcels at more than $66 million, according to WRAL News.
NBC News reported in March that Trump’s team was eyeing Florida as the location for the library, which it planned to expand on later to include a hotel.
The Miami Dade College location was selected over Florida Atlantic University after a site visit by Eric Trump and his team, a person familiar with the process told NBC News, which ultimately helped finalize the decision.
The Trump Organization did not respond to a request for comment about the plan.
The Florida Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund is expected to vote on the landmark decision on Sept. 30. In addition to DeSantis and Uthmeier, the four-member board includes the state’s chief financial officer, Blaise Ingoglia, and the state’s agriculture commissioner, Wilton Simpson. All four members are Republicans.
In an X post Tuesday, Ingoglia expressed his intention to vote in support of the library.
“I’m REALLY looking forward to this being one of my first votes as a cabinet member,” he wrote. “With the enshrinement of the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library at @MDCollege, Florida will officially, and forever be…Trump Country! A well deserved honor for @realDonaldTrump!”
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