The federal committee that oversees federal construction projects in the District of Columbia will hold a public hearing on President Donald Trump’s massive White House ballroom building project on January 8, months after the president ordered the historic White House East Wing demolished to make way for the planned $400 million event space.
The National Capital Planning Commission last week said it would host White House officials who would present information about what it called the “East Wing Modernization Project” in a public notice announcing the meeting, which will start what could be a months-long review of the project by the commission.
“This is an opportunity for the project applicant to present the project and for Commissioners to ask questions and provide general observations prior to formal review which we anticipate this spring,” the document said.
Last week, a federal judge in Washington ordered the Trump administration to provide the NCPC and another federal committee, the Commission of Fine Arts, with plans for the project by the end of this month after the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit seeking an emergency order to halt construction on the ground that the White House had failed to present its plans to both bodies for legally-mandated reviews before Trump ordered the East Wing knocked down to make way for the planned ballroom.
Judge Richard Leon, who was nominated to the federal bench by George W. Bush, said the court would “hold the Government to its word” on submitting plans to both federal committees for review.
In court documents, the Trump administration said above-ground construction for the ballroom would begin in April, assuming the NCPC approves the plans.
It’s unlikely that the body will reject Trump’s plans for the controversial ballroom project because the president has stacked it with friends and allies, including White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf, who was named the commission’s chair by Trump this past July.
Scharf previously defended Trump’s decision to have the century-old East Wing reduced to rubble in October by arguing that the NCPC’s authority only concerns construction rather than demolition or site preparation work.
The White House official’s reasoning was adopted by the commission in a document published on Tuesday in which it said that federal law does not give it any authority to review “the demolition of buildings or general site preparation.”
Earlier this month, Trump claimed the project could be completed in as soon as a year and a half, long before previous estimates floated by the White House.
The $300 million project will be funded by private donors. Contributors include tech giants Amazon, Apple Google, and Microsoft, crypto companies Coinbase and Ripple, the Winklevoss twins and the family of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to a list provided by the White House.
Democrats have introduced legislation to put guardrails on the project by requiring increased transparency around contributions, such as banning donations from individuals with conflicts of interest. The legislation would also prohibit the president and vice president from donating.
The White House first unveiled plans for ballroom in July, when press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that construction of the 90,000-square-foot ballroom — containing what she described as “a much-needed and exquisite addition” of “innately designed and carefully crafted space” — would begin in September.
“The White House is one of the most beautiful and historic buildings in the world, yet the White House is currently unable to host major functions honoring world leaders and other countries without having to install a large and unsightly tent approximately 100 yards away from the main building entrance,” she said.
Leavitt added that the new “White House State Ballroom” would be a “much-needed and exquisite addition of approximately 90,000 total square feet of innately designed and carefully crafted space, with a seated capacity of 650 people — a significant increase from the 200-person seated capacity in the East Room of the White House.”
In the subsequent months, Trump replaced James McCrery II, the original architect overseeing the ballroom project, after reportedly clashing with him over the size of the proposed structure, which if built to the president’s specifications would dwarf the White House and West Wing.
