On March 30, 2026, Trump posted a video of renderings for his presidential library: a Miami skyscraper bearing his name under a red, white and blue spire, with a replica of the Oval Office, a gilded ballroom, a gold statue of Trump raising his fist, and a plane that looks like Air Force One parked inside. The next day, March 31, he told reporters in the Oval Office, “I don't believe in building libraries or museums.” Of the building, he said, “Could be [an] office, but it's most likely going to be a hotel with a beautiful building underneath and a 747 Air Force One in the lobby.”
The Miami Herald called it the first public confirmation by Trump or his team of plans for a commercial hotel linked to the project, and reported that filling the upper floors with hotel rooms could generate significant money for the Trump-controlled foundation behind it. Eric Trump, who said he had “poured my heart and soul into this project,” told the Herald there would be no apartments or condominiums.
The site is a 2.6-acre downtown lot, worth $67 million, that Miami Dade College had used as an employee parking lot. The college's trustees voted to give it up in September 2025, and Gov. Ron DeSantis transferred it to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation Inc., which the Trump family set up in May 2025. Court records reviewed by local media showed the transfer price was $10. According to the Miami Herald, the only deed restriction is that construction start on a “Presidential library, museum, and/or center within five years.”
Historian Marvin Dunn sued, arguing the college had not properly notified the public before its vote, and a Miami-Dade judge temporarily blocked the transfer in October 2025. The trustees then held a second vote in December, and the judge dismissed the suit, allowing the transfer to proceed.
Questions also remain about settlement money promised for a Trump library. ABC News agreed to give $15 million toward a future library as part of its defamation settlement with Trump, and a separate nonprofit, the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Fund Inc., was set up in December 2024; it later took in money from other legal settlements. The state dissolved that fund in September 2025 after it failed to file an annual report. “The Fund is now gone, and the public has no clarity about the current location or purpose of the funds provided by ABC or any other source,” Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Melanie Stansbury wrote.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded on X, “All this family does is grift off the government.”
Correction (October 14, 2026): This entry previously said Trump unveiled the renderings on March 31 and called the library a hotel the next day; NPR and ABC News report the renderings were posted on Monday, March 30, and the hotel remark came on Tuesday, March 31, and the entry date has been changed to match. It said the foundation that received the land is funded in part by ABC's $15 million settlement; NPR reports that money went to a separate, now-dissolved fund, and the entity that owns the land is a different foundation the Trump family formed in May 2025. It said a trial was scheduled for August 2026 without noting that the judge dismissed the lawsuit after a second trustees' vote in December 2025. It described the foundation as controlled by Eric Trump, which our sources do not state; the Miami Herald calls it Trump-controlled and reports Eric Trump is helping plan the tower. It called Miami Dade College a minority-serving institution, which we could not source, and said the renderings showed gold statues; the video showed one gold statue of Trump. Trump's quote has been corrected to his exact words.