St Johns County Reaches Land Use Agreement for Black History Museum

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  and to educate future generations through a state-of-the-art cultural institution based here in St. Johns County,” she said.

The initial term of the lease is two years. At the conclusion of the initial term and provided the cCounty has secured sufficient state funding to proceed with the design and construction of the museum, the county will have the right to enter into a long-term renewal of this lease for an initial 30-year term, with up to three successive 30-year renewal terms, according to the release. The county will pay the FMUF $1,000 monthly rent during the initial term. At least ninety 90 days before the expiration of the initial term, the county and FMUF have agreed to meet in good faith to review and renegotiate the rent. Considerations will include the status of State funding commitments for the museum, the progress of feasibility studies, environmental assessments, and design concepts completed, and any other relevant project developments, the release states.

“At this stage, the museum project remains in the planning and coordination phase,” Andrews said. “The state committed $1 million in planning and conceptual design for this fiscal year. The lease agreement will enable the county to continue advancing the design, fundraising and implementation processes.”

Andrews said the next steps include continued collaboration between the county and the FMU Foundation as well as the State of Florida as the museum concept is refined.

“In the meantime, we will continue to advocate the state legislators to further the investment into phase II deign and position St. Johns County for the eventual construction and programming phase,” she said.