Andres Viglucci’s Sept. 16 article, Museums rise as park stalls, focuses on the downscaling of the park plans, and mentions several relocated trees from Brickell CitiCentre.

In June, Swire Properties orchestrated the conservation and relocation of over 40 trees, of which 14 mature live oak and strangler fig trees were donated to Museum Park. These specimen trees, ranging from 25 to 150 years old and weighing from 12,000 to 125,000 pounds, were excavated from the site of our Brickell CitiCentre development and barged down the Miami River to the future home of Museum Park. We worked closely with Commissioner Marc Sarnoff’s office, arborist Lisa Hammer and the city of Miami planning staff to move these trees at a total project cost of about $650,000, including the value of the trees, which couldn’t have been purchased in any nursery.

We are pleased to have played this role in conserving an aspect of Brickell’s natural history, which will now live on in Miami’s newest park. While we all would like to see the plan for Museum Park fully realized from the outset, we believe Swire’s gift to have greater significance in light of your recent article.

Stephen Owens, president, Swire Properties, Miami