State panel recommends St. Johns County over Eatonville for site of Florida’s Black History Museum
A state panel on Tuesday afternoon recommended St. Johns County as the site of Florida’s Black History Museum.
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The task force met for several hours before announcing the recommendation shortly after 4 p.m.
The town of Eatonville had also been vying for the $100 million project.
The project’s architect revealed Tuesday that the St. Johns County delegation seeks to build the museum on undeveloped land far from a highway or St. Augustine -- Florida’s historic capital and the county seat.
The task force’s recommendation will be sent to the Florida Legislature, which can either abide by it or ignore it.
Read: Black history museum task force member accused of ‘tanking’ score against Orange County
Orange County wanted to build a facility that included a performing arts center and a hotel off Interstate 4 and argued the former Hungerford School site was best positioned for success.
St. Johns County leaned heavily on its history and the heavily weighted scoring to rise above concerns that its rural location was far from anything else and wouldn’t be able to sustain a major museum.
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See our other coverage below:
Eatonville makes pitch to host Florida’s black history museum
New bill could derail plans for African American history museum in Eatonville
Eatonville makes pitch to host Florida’s black history museum
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