Dec 1, 2005 1:12 pm US/Eastern
Freedom Tower Plan Sees Miami Commission
Dave Game, CBS4.com
MIAMI (CBS4 News) ―
A high-rise Condo may still block it from view, but at least a Miami historic landmark will be used for a public purpose. Miami-Dade College says it has acquired the Freedom Tower, and will use the donated building for an exhibit on Cubans who fled their country and were processed in that very building.
Still up in the air are plans to develop the very desirable site around the Freedom Tower. Later today, Terra Group will go before the Miami City Commission with new plans for the site.
Terra Group announced earlier this year that it would build 650-foot building next to the downtown landmark, incorporating the tower into the site with the condo as a backdrop. Opponents were upset that the plan would mask the tower from view, and cause the historic landmark to virtually disappear. Some preservationists worry the developer will use the goodwill gesture of the tower's donation to push plans for the site through, even though in July the city's planning advisory board deadlocked over the group's plans to build a 62-story condominium next to the tower.
Terra Group donated the tower to the School, which will finally realize long held plans among Cuban exiles to create a museum in the structure, also known as the "Cuban Ellis Island."
The Tower has been largely vacant since it was last used as a processing center for Cuban refugees, and repeated efforts by developers to find a use for the tall, narrow building have met with failure. The family of the late Jorge Mas Canosa sold the tower to the Terra Group after the Biscayne development boom ignited land prices in downtown Miami
The school also is hoping to use the building for classes and community activities.
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