Gov. Ron DeSantis and other top elected Republican state officials donated a prime state-owned property in downtown Miami on Tuesday to the nonprofit raising money for President Trump’s presidential library.
Some estimates say that the property, facing Biscayne Bay, is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It belonged to Miami Dade College until last week, when the college’s trustees voted without any discussion to convey it to the state.
Mr. DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet — the state attorney general, agriculture commissioner and chief financial officer — unanimously approved the conveyance of the property to the nonprofit when they met on Tuesday in Tallahassee, in their capacity as the trustees of a fund that controls state lands. Their discussion before the vote lasted less than three minutes.
Mr. DeSantis called the possibility of having a presidential library in the state a “unique opportunity,” and added that it would be the first such library to be affiliated with a state college, rather than a university.
Conveying the property as a gift affirmed that the governor and cabinet members believed that its “intended use will provide a greater benefit to the public than its retention in state ownership,” according to agenda documents for Tuesday’s meeting. The move essentially put the property under the control of the Trump family.
Neither Mr. Trump nor his aides have revealed any concrete plans for a future library. The president’s son Eric and son-in-law Michael Boulos incorporated a Florida-based foundation to raise money for the library in May.
The Trump Organization and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Eric Trump is among several people close to the president who have been scouting possible library sites in South Florida for months. One site, at Florida Atlantic University, is near the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, but is subject to height restrictions because of its proximity to an airport.
Another, on the grounds of Florida International University, is near Mr. Trump’s golf course in Doral. But that location is deep in the suburbs.
The 2.63-acre property in downtown Miami, currently a parking lot, is the most valuable of the three, with its waterfront views, proximity to public transportation and space for several towers. Under the terms of the transaction, only certain “components” of the property would be required to house a presidential library, museum or center, according to the state. Construction would have to begin within five years.
The rest of the property could house other ventures, such as a hotel, as Mr. Trump is believed to want. Nothing would preclude the building of condos, restaurants or other commercial ventures on the site, which some big-name developers had previously eyed.
Giving Mr. Trump’s library foundation the deed to the property would be a “first step,” Mr. DeSantis said at a news conference last week.
Miami Dade College has said little about giving up the property. The college received a letter from the Office of Cabinet Affairs on Sept. 16 requesting the conveyance without any explanation, according to a copy that The New York Times obtained through a public records request. Roberto Alonso, the board’s vice chairman, said in an interview that the college’s trustees could only guess at what the request was for.
“There’s not many options — we’re appointed by the governor,” he said.
Still, Mr. Alonso said, putting a presidential library on the site would be an “amazing opportunity.”
“It’s a place to go and have dialogue,” he said. “It’s a place for our students to learn about the highest office.”
Miami Dade College has used the property as a parking lot for the Freedom Tower, a locally beloved building that the college owns, where Cuban refugees were given assistance decades ago when they first arrived in South Florida. The 100-year-old yellow tower, now a museum, reopened this month after a two-year, $25 million renovation.
Mr. Uthmeier said in a video posted on X last week that he could think of “no better location” for Mr. Trump’s library than next to Florida’s “Ellis Island of the South.”
Others have expressed dismay at the prospect, either because of the president’s posture toward immigrants or because they do not think public land should be donated for a political enterprise, especially without public input.
“That land belongs to our kids,” said Marvin Dunn, a Miami historian. “It belongs to their educational future, and to give it to a politician — any politician — is wrong.”
Dr. Dunn organized a protest outside the site on Monday and said he was hoping to file a lawsuit against the conveyance after it was completed on Tuesday, as expected.
One of Mr. Trump’s scouts for potential library sites is Steven Witkoff, his Middle East envoy, a fellow real estate developer who is involved in a large project in downtown Miami. Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner owns rental condos just north of downtown.
Anne-Christine Carrie, an urban planner and planning consultant who is an expert on Miami’s zoning code, said the “highest and best use” of the property would be towers up to 100 stories high that together could house some 2,500 condo units.
The lack of a residential parking requirement is a rarity for condo construction in Miami, she said, and makes the site all the more valuable. Ms. Carrie noted, however, that construction on nearby developments has been delayed in the past after ancient relics were discovered at the sites.
Miami Dade College bought the property for $24.8 million in 2004. The Miami-Dade County property appraiser lists its value today at more than $67 million, but that is just a fraction of its likely market value, especially given the favorable zoning and building rules, said Peter Zalewski, a real estate consultant who tracks local trends in the condo market.
Mr. Zalewski estimated that the property could sell for at least $360 million on the market, based on a calculation that took into account the cost per square foot for condo units in the area, plus a premium for new construction.
“There’s all kinds of ways that thing would just be a cash cow,” he said of the site.
Maggie Haberman contributed reporting from New York.
Patricia Mazzei is the lead reporter for The Times in Miami, covering Florida and Puerto Rico.
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