Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is considering a plan to allocate a 2.6-acre parking lot next to Miami’s Freedom Tower for the establishment of a Donald Trump presidential library. The proposal will be submitted to the Florida Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, which oversees state lands, for a vote scheduled on September 30.
“No state has better delivered the President’s agenda than the Free State of Florida,” DeSantis said in a statement. “And we would be honored to house his presidential library here in his home state.”
Donald Trump, who served as both the 45th and 47th president of the United States, resides primarily at Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach.
The trustees overseeing this decision include Governor DeSantis, Attorney General James Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson. Their responsibilities include managing and making decisions about public land in Florida.
Currently, employees from Miami-Dade College’s Wolfson Campus use the parking lot. According to reporting by the Miami Herald, Miami-Dade College’s board of trustees voted Tuesday morning to transfer ownership of the property to the state. The college also owns Freedom Tower, which recently reopened after undergoing $25 million in renovations.
Freedom Tower is recognized as an important landmark in downtown Miami. Built in 1925 as the original home of the now-defunct Miami News, it later became known for its role as the Cuban Refugee Center during the 1960s and 1970s, helping many Cuban immigrants settle in South Florida. In 2005, Miami-Dade College received Freedom Tower as a donation and converted it into a museum.
DeSantis’ relationship with Trump was strained during the 2024 Republican presidential primary when both competed for party leadership. Trump’s campaign criticized DeSantis before he withdrew from the race in January last year after determining he could not win.
More recently, DeSantis and his administration have taken steps aligned with Trump-era immigration policies by attempting to convert an old air strip in the Everglades into a detention facility called Alligator Alcatraz. A federal appeals court has since blocked an order that would have closed this facility.
