State Dept. To Set Up Shop At Freedom Tower

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The U.S. Department of State has entered into an agreement with Miami Dade College to operate out of the college's historic Freedom Tower.

The Department of State's Media Hub of the Americas will begin operations on Jan. 28, 2015th.

The agency will periodically use the Freedom Tower to conduct interviews, meetings and other official business. It will also be used, occasionally, as a home base for U.S. officials visiting the college.

"Miami, the gateway to the Americas, is an ideal location for engaging the Spanish-language media in Latin America about U.S. policy, and the iconic Freedom Tower is the perfect venue," according to a statement from MDC.

Federal officials said the tower was chosen because of its history.

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The tower, completed in 1925, was originally the headquarters of The Miami News paper. In the late 1950s, they moved to a new building on the Miami River.

The federal government used the iconic Freedom Tower in the 1960s to process and provide medical services to Cubans who fled Fidel Castro's communist rule of their homeland. The federal government sold the building in 1974. Five years later it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

"We feel there would be no other place in Miami that would be more appropriate than this," MDC President Eduardo Padron.

"The epicenter of the media that are covering the Americas particularly in Spanish and Portuguese are here in Miami so we wanted to be in the heart of it," said State Dept. assistant secretary Valerie Crites.

Padron said he believes the partnership will also be an amazing opportunity for students to be exposed to and learn more about diplomatic relations.