Florida judge halts transfer of downtown Miami land for Trump presidential library

A Florida judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the planned transfer of prime downtown Miami land for President Donald Trump’s future presidential library.

Circuit Judge Mavel Ruiz’s ruling came after a Miami activist alleged that officials at a local college violated Florida’s open government law by donating a large piece of real estate to the state, which then voted to transfer it to the planned library foundation.

“This is not an easy decision,” Mavel said Tuesday in explaining his decision from the bench, finding that the college failed to give the public reasonable notice before last month’s vote.

“This is not a case, at least for this court, that is rooted in politics,” she added.

The nearly 3-acre (1.2-hectare) property is a developer’s dream and is valued at more than $67 million, according to a 2025 appraisal by the Miami-Dade County property appraiser. One real estate expert bet that the parcel — one of the last undeveloped lots on an iconic stretch of palm-lined Biscayne Boulevard — could sell for hundreds of millions of dollars more.

Marvin Dunn, an activist and chronicler of local black history, filed a lawsuit this month in a Miami-Dade County court against the board of trustees of Miami Dade College, a public school that owns the property. He alleged the board violated Florida’s Sunshine Law by failing to provide sufficient notice for its Sept. 23 special meeting, when it voted to surrender the land.

An agenda released before the meeting simply said the board would consider turning over the property to a state fund overseen by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet, but provided no details on what property was being considered or why. Unlike all other board meetings held this year, the September 23 meeting at 8 a.m. was not broadcast live.

A week later, DeSantis and other top GOP officials voted to transfer the land again, putting the property under the control of the Trump family when they deeded it to the Trump Library Foundation. This foundation is led by three directors: Eric Trump, Tiffany Trump’s husband, Michael Boulos, and the president’s lawyer James Kiley.

Jesus Suarez, an attorney for the college, argued that MDC did what was required by law and questioned Dunn’s political motivations for filing the complaint.

“Florida law does not require the notice to be specific, because these administrators can come into this room and talk to each other about whatever they want,” Suarez said.

Dunn’s lawyers argue that no one not already involved in the deal could have known what the board would do.

“People have a right to know what they’re going to decide to do when the transaction is so large, so unusual and deprives the students and the university of this land,” said the plaintiff’s attorney, Richard Brodsky, speaking to The Associated Press before the judge’s ruling.

Javier Ley-Soto, general counsel for Miami Dade College, said the group was still finalizing the transfer of the land. Delays caused by an injunction could cost the college as much as $300,000, he estimated.

“Florida law does not require the notice to be specific, because these administrators can come into this room and talk to each other about whatever they want,” Suarez said.