After listening to more than six hours of passionate pleas from feuding parishioners, preservationists, architects, school graduates and Operation Pedro Pan alumni, the Miami City Commission unanimously approved the historic designation of St. Jude Melkite Catholic Church off Brickell Avenue.
The 4-0 vote, with Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones absent, came at 2:38 a.m. Friday.
The decision means changes or renovations to the exterior of the 66-year-old church will have to be approved by the city’s preservation board.