County Reaches
LAND USE AGREEMENT for
BLACK HISTORY MUSEUM
by Aaron London
The Florida Museum of Black History is another step closer to reality with the announcement of a ground lease agreement between St. Johns County and the Florida Memorial University Foundation.
Earlier this month, the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution approving and authorizing County Administrator Joy Andrews to execute the agreement with the Foundation for use of the school’ s former campus site in St. Augustine as the location for the state’ s Black History Museum, according to a media release. The FMUF Board of Trustees is scheduled to consider approving the agreement and celebrating the new partnership at their 2025 Homecoming Week festivities in mid-October.
In May 2024, the Florida Museum of Black History Task Force chose St. Johns County as the site of the museum. The county recently held a ceremony to mark the receipt of $ 1 million in state appropriations for planning and designing the facility.
FMUF owns the property, which the county seeks to lease to advance the development, construction and operation of the museum and associated public facilities, subject to the availability of sufficient State funding, the release states.
“ The ground lease agreement with the FMU Foundation is an important milestone,” Andrews said in an interview with EVOLVE News.“ It formalizes the county’ s long term partnership and commitment to each other in the development of the Florida Museum of Black History. Having this agreement in place ensures that the county’ s commitment to the State of Florida and to our community is clearly defined and actionable.”
Andrews said the Florida Museum of Black History will be an important cultural institution for region and the state of Florida.
“ This museum represents a historic opportunity to celebrate the rich contributions of Black Floridians
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