Trump will keep 'structure' of Kennedy Center intact during $200M in renovations [View all]

Source: The Hill

02/02/26 5:15 PM ET


President Trump said on Monday he intends to leave the basic structure of the Kennedy Center intact during upcoming renovations which are expected to last two years and cost upwards of $200 million.

“I’m not ripping it down. I’ll be using the steel,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office after announcing a new strategic mineral reserve for the American auto industry. “So we’re using the structure. We’re using some of the marble, and some of the marble comes down. But when it’s open it’ll be brand new and really beautiful,” he added. Trump noted that the renovations are expected to cost $200 million.

The comments come after Trump announced on Sunday that the Kennedy Center, which new the board that took over in the president’s second term voted to rename The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, would be closed for two years for a restoration project.

The announcement, like the name change, has drawn backlash from Trump’s critics and members of the Kennedy family. “While this trespass on the People’s will is painful, President Kennedy would remind us that it is not buildings that define the greatness of a nation. It is the actions of its people and its leaders,” former Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.), John F. Kennedy’s great-nephew, said in a post on X.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/5719313-trump-kennedy-center-renovation/