Just three years after it was installed in the MiMo District, the neon-lit, 35-foot high Coppertone Girl billboard — a piece of Miami history — faces an unknown fate because the non-profit that owns it can’t continue paying for the work’s $1,200 yearly liability insurance.

For now, it looks like next year’s premium will be paid by the owner of the building on which the sign is situated, but she’s not sure she can continue doing so.

“It’s something that people need to see, it’s part of the history of the boulevard, but we just can’t pay for it anymore,” said Nancy Liebman, president of the MiMo Association, the non-profit that has owned the sign since 2008.

Jerry Bengis, a local art appraiser and the son of the man whose company built the sign just blocks from the current location, says the image is burned in the American psyche. He compares it with Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s soup can painting.

“It’s so iconic, it’s a trademark, something associated with South Florida.” said Bengis

For local architecture author and history buff Charles Kropke, the billboard represents much more than 1950’s nostalgia, it is part of a booming business that’s attracting tourists to the MiMo District area.

“Just now Europeans are very curious about this type of history. There’s a great curiosity about this architecture, this was a period of American exuberance, huge signs and beautiful buildings,” Kropke said. “It’s a treasure. These are icons of a certain time.”

The sign is on the northern wall of a building at 7300 Biscayne Blvd. The contract between the MiMo Biscayne Association and the building’s owner, Debra Ohanian, calls for the association to pay the insurance — due by the end of December — and Ohanian to cover the electricity bill for the sign.

Liebman feels Ohanian should try to pay the insurance since the sign has helped promote her building.

Ohanian said she’ll talk to the insurance company to see if there’s a way to lower the premium.

Asked if she would be willing to pay for the sign’s insurance from now on, Ohanian said she thinks she can cover the premium for this year, but didn’t guarantee she’ll be dishing out $1,200 for as long as the sign is on her building.

Barbany Min, the city of Miami zoning administrator, said there is nothing in the city code that requires a private property to have liability insurance for a sign. Still, he says it would be prudent for the owner to have insurance to prevent a major lawsuit in case the sign falls and hurts someone.

Liebman agrees.

“If there’s no insurance there’s a problem for her and for us,” said Liebman referring to Ohanian and the MiMo Association.

MiMo Association member Alisa Cepeda said she’s started a fundraising campaign calling business owners in the area to donate money to cover the insurance cost. So far, she says she’s only raised a “few hundred dollars” and plans to continue raising money during MiMo Art in the Park on Dec. 4.

From 1959 to 1991, the Coppertone Girl occupied at least half the north wall of the now-demolished 13-story Parkleigh Building in downtown Miami until Miami Dade College bought the property to construct its Wolfson Campus.

Schering-Plough, the pharmaceutical company that makes Copperstone, salvaged the sign and donated it to the Dade Heritage Trust.

It was gathering dust in a warehouse until 1995 when it was repaired and mounted on the east wall of the Concord building at 66 W. Flagler St. across from the courthouse.

In 2008, the sign was donated by Dade Heritage Trust to the MiMo Biscayne Association, which oversaw a major $100,000 restoration funded by Schering-Plough after the sign had been damaged during the 2005 hurricane season and placed in its current location.

Meanwhile, the girl and her dog will continue to light up the boulevard for another year, at least until the insurance bill is due again.

“Someone’s going to have to come up with the money,” Ohanian asserts.

This post was produced by Open Media Miami, an independent company that works in partnership with the Miami Herald to cover neighborhood news along the Biscayne Corridor. Post tips or suggestions on our Facebook page or email us at news@openmediamiami.com.