TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Miami activists allege that city officials violated Florida’s open government law.
According to a 2025 rating by Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser, the nearly three-acre (1.2 hectares) property is a developer’s dream and is rated at over $67 million. One real estate expert, one of the last undeveloped lots on the iconic stretch of Biscayne Boulevard, lined with iconic palm trees, bets that the parcel could sell for hundreds of millions more.
Marvin Dunn, a local black history activist and chronicler, filed a lawsuit Monday in Miami-Dade County Courthouse against the council meeting of Miami-Dade University, a state school that previously owned the property. He argues that the committee is trying to violate the Florida government in the Sunshine Act by not providing sufficient notice to the special meeting when he votes to abandon the land on September 23, and is attempting to block the land from relocating.
University representatives did not immediately respond to Tuesday’s request for comment.
The agenda announced ahead of the meeting stated that the board would only consider communicating property to state funds overseen by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet, but did not provide details on which property is being considered or why. Unlike all other meetings held by the board this year, the 8am meeting on September 23rd was not livestreamed.
“People who have not yet participated in the transaction would not have thought from this ‘notice’ about what the district council had actually planned to do,” the lawsuit states.
At 8:14am, DeSantis’ news outlet sent an email announcing it was offering to give land for Trump’s Presidential Library.
A week later, the governor and his cabinet made it official and effectively put the property under the Trump family’s control when they handed over the land to Trump’s library foundation. The foundation is led by three councillors: Eric Trump, Tiffany Trump’s husband, Michael Boulos, and President James Killie.
Adjacent to a flashy condo, the property overlooks the waterfront park and is located across the street from the arena at Miami Heat. According to a 2006 report from Miami News, Miami-Dade College used it as a parking lot for employees, but the property was attracting attention due to the massive expansion of the university’s downtown campus.
DeSantis touts the potential benefits universities can see from presidential library development, but the land deal does not guarantee a commitment to schools, one of the nation’s largest institutions of higher education. The contract simply specifies that construction will begin within five years, including the “component” of the Presidential Library or Center in the parcel.
