President Donald Trump is finally getting his White House ballroom.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Thursday that construction would begin in September on a 90,000 square foot addition to the East Wing that would include Trump’s long sought-after ballroom.
The Daily Mail reported in April that Trump had started pitching the construction of a White House ballroom in 2010 – back when President Barack Obama was in office and before he launched his own political career.
‘For 150 years, presidents, administrations and White House staff have longed for a large event space on the White House complex that can hold substantially more guests then currently allowed,’ Leavitt said at Thursday’s briefing. ‘President Trump has expressed his commitment to solving this problem on behalf of future administrations and the American people.’
Leavitt said the new ballroom would reside in the current East Wing of the White House, explaining that the building would be ‘modernized’ when asked if portions of the East Wing, originally constructed in 1902, would be torn down.
The current East Wing, which is detached from the main White House residence, houses the offices of the first lady, the White House Military Office and the White House Visitors Office.
A second story had been added in 1942.
Leavitt said the staff of those offices would be relocated during construction.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that construction on a White House ballroom would start in September. She held up design renderings for reporters in the room
The White House released visuals of the new ballroom on Thursday. The current East Wing of the White House will be ‘modernized’ and 90,000 square feet of new space will be added in a project funded by President Donald Trump and donors
The ballroom project is expected to be finished before the end of Trump’s term, she also said.
‘President Trump and other donors have generously committed to donating the funds necessary to build this approximately $200 million structure,’ Leavitt said.
When Trump originally pitched the ballroom, to top Obama adviser David Axelrod in 2010 – amid the Gulf oil spill, which Trump also volunteered to plug – Axelrod later said he didn’t remember the now-president offering to pay for the project.
During a subsequent interview on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show, Trump voiced annoyance that the Obama White House wouldn’t take him up on his offer.
Trump – then a real estate developer – offered to build the Obamas a ballroom because he didn’t like the look of the tents first lady Michelle Obama was erecting on the South Lawn to host state dinners.
‘And I see that the White House – the White House, Washington, D.C. – when a dignitary comes in from India, from anywhere, they open up a tent. They have a tent. A tent!’ Trump told Limbaugh, later referring to it as a ‘lousy looking tent.’
In her remarks Thursday, Leavitt echoed the tent dig.
‘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’s entrance,’ she said.
The current White House residence can be seen (left) in a rendering of the new White House ballroom, which will extend and replace portions of the current East Wing (right)
A view of the renovated and expanded White House East Wing from the East. The ballroom project will expand the East Wing by 90,000 square feet
The updated East Wing will have a far more majestic entrance according to the mock-ups of the designs
The White House ballroom’s designs are similar to those found at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago and his former hotel in Washington, D.C.
A mock-up of the design shows the current East Colonnade and how it would connect to the expanded and renovated East Wing
‘The White House ballroom will be a much-needed and exquisite addition of approximately 90,000 total square feet of innately designed and carefully crafted space with a succeeded capacity of 650 people, which is a significant increase from the 200-person seated capacity in the East Room of the White House,’ Leavitt added.
Mock-ups of the design were almost immediately available on the White House’s website, with Leavitt holding up several visuals in the briefing room for reporters.
The gilded interior design looks similar to ballroom additions Trump has constructed at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and the Old Post Office in Washington, D.C., which for several years was the Trump International Hotel.
During his first six months in office, Trump has also erected two large flagpoles on the White House’s North and South Lawns – and paved over the grass in the Rose Garden, a projected that is expected to be completed soon.
