Trump's library will be built in Miami, son says after state gifts public land

Alexandra Glorioso and Claire Heddles, Miami Herald on Sep 30, 2025

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MIAMI — Gov. Ron DeSantis and the three other members of the Florida cabinet voted unanimously Tuesday to give a $67 million plot of land adjacent to Miami’s Freedom tower to Donald Trump’s presidential library foundation with few strings attached.

Eric Trump, one of three trustees of the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, committed to building the presidential library in Miami shortly after. Trump’s presidential library “will be located in… MIAMI, FLORIDA! It will be the greatest Presidential Library ever built, honoring the greatest President our Nation has ever known,” he wrote on X. “This will be one of the most beautiful buildings ever built, an Icon on the Miami skyline.”

There are still discussions of having multiple presidential library sites — including one in Palm Beach County. Trump’s team is also considering building a hotel on the Miami property, according to sources.

At least two of the four Florida Cabinet members who voted to convey the land to the Trump’s presidential library foundation said after the vote Tuesday that they had not discussed the plans with anyone from the president’s administration and did not know the details of the plans.

“What we voted on today was to allow that library to be put there,” Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson told the Herald/Times after the vote. “If there’s other amenities that go along with that, well, so be it.”

The only restriction on the land transfer, according to the board’s vote Tuesday, is that “within five years of the date of conveyance, the subject property contains components of a Presidential library, museum, and/or center or that construction has commenced,” leaving the door open for a wide scope of options.

A presidential library in downtown could be an economic engine in Miami and driver for tourism, supporters have argued. But there’s also been local backlash over the plan to memorialize a president who’s made mass deportations a key part of his agenda in a complex adjacent to the Freedom Tower and so-called “Ellis Island of the South,” which served as a refugee center for Cuban asylum seekers.

“As Miami becomes the capital of the world in many respects, I think it’ll be a great location,” Attorney General James Uthmeier said ahead of the vote.

Up until last week, the prime downtown land had belonged to Miami Dade College, which had been using the property for employee parking. The college has held two rounds of requests for proposals to develop the property since it purchased it for $25 million in 2004, both of which fell through.

But there was no open bidding or proposals drafted this time around.

The college’s Board of Trustees voted to transfer the land to the state without obtaining any information about what the land would be used for, according to the Board of Trustee vice chairman and records provided by the college that show no details were sent to board members.

Even though the property no longer belongs to the college, state leaders said the land transfer and a presidential library adjacent to campus would be a win for students.

“To have Miami Dade College students have opportunities to be able to have programs associated with a Trump presidential library, I think it’s a unique opportunity for the state,” DeSantis said.

“It’s great for Miami Dade College,” Uthmeier echoed. “ think it’ll provide a lot of nice opportunities for partnerships and their students to find employment and other education opportunities.”

Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia — who has been auditing local government spending in a statewide effort inspired by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency — waived away any criticism that the free land deal was political.

“It’s hogwash,” Ingoglia told reporters after the vote. “People do not like the fact that President Trump is standing up fiercely for the American people. And they’re just going to push back.”

Ingoglia said he first learned about the deal by reading media reports, had not discussed it with anyone from the president’s administration and had not seen any plans for what would be built there. He said he didn’t “have any information” on what Miami Dade College would get in return for giving the land to Trump’s presidential foundation, if anything.