WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is expected to submit plans for President Donald Trump's new ballroom to a federal planning commission before the year ends, about three months after construction began.
Will Scharf, who was named by Trump as chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission, said at the panel's monthly meeting Thursday that he was told by colleagues at the White House that the long-awaited plans will be filed sometime in December.
“Once plans are submitted, that’s really when the role of this commission, and its professional staff, will begin,” said Scharf, who also is one of the Republican president's top White House aides.
He said the review process would happen at a “normal and deliberative pace.”
Separately, the White House confirmed Thursday that a second architectural firm has been added to the project.
Spokesperson Davis Ingle said architect Shalom Baranes of Washington, D.C., was needed as construction moves into a new phase. The firm has worked on federal properties across the nation's capital, including the Pentagon and Treasury buildings, according to its website.
“As we begin to transition into the next stage of development on the White House Ballroom, the Administration is excited to share that the highly talented Shalom Baranes has joined the team of experts to carry out President Trump’s vision on building what will be the greatest addition to the White House since the Oval Office — the White House Ballroom," Ingle said in an emailed statement.
“Shalom is an accomplished architect whose work has shaped the architectural identity of our nation’s capital for decades and his experience will be a great asset to the completion of this project,” Ingle said.
The initial firm, McCrery Architects, also of Washington, remains as a consultant.
If built as proposed, the 90,000-square-foot ballroom announced over the summer and expected to be ready before Trump's term ends in 2029, would dwarf the White House itself, at nearly double the size, and the president has said it will accommodate 999 people.
The estimated price tag stands at $300 million, up from the White House's initial $200 million.
Trump has said the ballroom will not cost taxpayers a dime because it is being privately funded by individuals he says are “patriots,” American corporations and himself. He has not said how much of his own money he is contributing.
The White House has released a list of 37 donors that includes crypto billionaires, charitable organizations, sports team owners, powerful financiers, tech and tobacco giants, media companies, supporters of Republican causes and some of the president’s neighbors in Palm Beach, Florida.
Trump has long desired a ballroom at the White House and he complains regularly about the inability of its two largest rooms, the State Dining Room and the East Room, to host large events. He also has panned the use of large tents set up on the South Grounds for hundred-plus-person events, like a state dinner.
Last month, when Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited, Trump said he had upset a lot of people because he had to turn down their requests to attend an East Room dinner in the prince's honor due to the lack of space.
“I only wish we had about 2,000 more seats. We would have filled every one of them two times over,” Trump said at the dinner, alluding to the proposed ballroom. “But very soon you’ll be having that, and we'll have to do another one in about two years from now.”
In September, Trump moved ahead with site preparation work for the ballroom despite the lack of sign-off from the National Capital Planning Commission, the executive branch agency with jurisdiction over construction and major renovations to government buildings in the region.
Scharf has made a distinction between demolition work and above-ground construction, saying the commission only has jurisdiction over the latter. L. Preston Bryant Jr., a former chair of the commission under President Barack Obama, told The Associated Press that the approval process typically involved four stages, including an early consultation when the project was conceptual.
In October, Trump demolished the East Wing, where he has proposed to build the ballroom. Site preparation work has continued daily since then, with the sound of construction audible amid the hustle and bustle at the White House.
The East Wing was the traditional base of operations for the first lady and her staff. Several other White House offices also were housed in that wing. All currently are working out of space elsewhere in the White House or the office building next door.
The Washington Post was first to report on the addition of a new architect.
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