<\/p>\n
Miami Dade College’s possible site of proposed President Trump presidential library in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday, September 23, 2025.<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY AL DIAZ<\/p>\n
adiaz@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
Donald Trump\u2019s presidential library foundation became the legal owner this month of the downtown Miami land adjacent to the Freedom Tower where he plans to build his highrise legacy project, county property records show, after legal hurdles last fall.<\/p>\n
Miami Dade College President Madeline Pumariega signed away the deed for the 2.6-acre Biscayne Boulevard land to a state board managed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet for $10 in January, according to Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser records.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, the state\u2019s Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund conveyed the land to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, again for $10. The only restriction on that deed, according to property records, is that construction starts on a \u201cPresidential library, museum, and\/or center within five years.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeSantis, Attorney General James Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson were signatories on that deed transfer.<\/p>\n
Last fall, a Miami-Dade circuit judge initially blocked the college from giving away its deed to the land away until a legal challenge over whether the school\u2019s trustees followed Florida public transparency laws played out in court.<\/p>\n
The college\u2019s trustees initially voted to give the land to the state board \u2014 which planned to give it to Trump\u2019s library foundation \u2014 during a September meeting that lasted less than five minutes and included no discussion or public notification of the state\u2019s plans for the land.<\/p>\n
In response to the legal challenge, brought by local historian and activist Marvin Dunn, and Judge Mavel Ruiz\u2019s block on the land transfer, the school\u2019s trustees held a new, publicly noticed meeting on the plan in December<\/a> and unanimously voted to transfer the land again.<\/p>\n During that meeting, the trustees listened to hours of public feedback on the planned presidential legacy project in Miami. Critics chided the college for not negotiating specific benefits or concessions for the school in exchange for its land. Others decried the symbolism of having a tribute to a president who has made mass deportations a central part of his agenda next to the former Cuban Refugee Center, now the Freedom Tower, which helped Cubans seeking asylum in the 1960s and 1970s.<\/p>\n The property appraiser has valued the land at about $67 million, but developers have estimated<\/a> the actual value of the land to be significantly higher, in part because if its favorable parking and zoning regulations that are particularly lucrative for condo developers.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s presidential library foundation has said it plans to raise almost $1 billion<\/a> over the next three years for the project, while Trump is still in office, according to the foundation\u2019s tax filings. The foundation has released few details of its construction plans, but Eric Trump said in a statement last fall that the planned building \u201cwill be visible for miles into the Atlantic, a bold landmark on Miami\u2019s skyline.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the foundation\u2019s primary income streams to date has been through high-profile lawsuit settlements with media companies over their coverage of Trump.<\/p>\n Miami Herald staff reporter Doug Hanks contributed to this report.<\/p>\n