[8] The museum was built at 101 West Flagler Street in the same Miami Cultural Plaza as HistoryMiami and the Miami-Dade Public Library.

The building is designed by Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron,[12] who were hired by Terence Riley, director of the museum in 2009, when plans were made.

[7] With their raised, wraparound terraces and broad overhanging canopies, the houses are conceived to withstand hurricanes and floods, while providing ample shade and ventilation.

The museum also incorporates a series of hanging vertical gardens made from local plants and vegetation, designed by French botanist Patrick Blanc.

Jorge M. Pérez, longtime trustee and collector of Latin American art, made a gift of $35 million, to be paid in full over ten years,[20] to support the campaign for the new museum, which was in turn renamed the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County.

[21] The new MAM location is intended to transform Museum Park into a central destination on Miami's cultural map, promote progressive arts education, build community cohesiveness, and contribute substantially to downtown revitalization.

[2] The Perez Art Museum Miami was chosen for the 2015 American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Professional Awards.

The focus of the museum is 20th century and contemporary art, as well as cultures of the Atlantic Rim, which it defines as the Americas, Western Europe and Africa.

[27] In its permanent collections, there are second half of the twentieth century and Contemporary works by Purvis Young, Joseph Cornell, Kehinde Wiley, James Rosenquist, Frank Stella, and Kiki Smith.

Much of the museum's current collection has been donated,[28] with 110 works coming from Jorge M. Pérez,[29] among them pieces by the Cuban painters José Bedia Valdés and Wifredo Lam, as well as the Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Damian Ortega, the Uruguayan Joaquín Torres-García and the Colombian Beatriz González.

[30] In 2012, Pérez pledged $500,000 to establish an acquisitions fund for African-American art, matched shortly after by the Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The fund allowed to the expansion of the museum collection by sponsoring acquisitions from Terry Adkins, Romare Bearden, Kevin Beasley, Ed Clark, Leslie Hewitt, Faith Ringgold, Tschabalala Self, Xaviera Simmons, Juana Valdez, among others.

[31] In 2014, the museum launched the Ambassador of African American Art program, its first-ever affiliate group, which invites donors to contribute directly to the fund.

[32] In 2013, museum trustee and Miami developer Craig Robins pledged 102 paintings, photographs, sculptures and other works from his personal collection.

[34] In 2019, sixteen works by the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude worth around $3 million were donated to Pérez Art Museum Miami by its trustee Maria Bechily and her husband Scott Hodes.

[43] Inquiry based lesson plans focus on the museum's permanent collection to offer educators resources aligned to Florida State Standards that introduce students to modern and contemporary art.

[60] Pérez Art Museum Miami released this statement on February 17, 2014, in response to the incident: "We have the highest respect for freedom of expression, but this destructive act of vandalism is disrespectful to another artist and his work, to Pérez Art Museum Miami, and to our community.

[62] Caminero subsequently pleaded guilty to one charge of criminal mischief and was sentenced to 18 months of probation and 100 hours of community service.