President Donald Trump has sent the final plans for the White House’s new ballroom – “A great, big, beautiful gift to the United States of America!” Trump told the Federal Commission on February 13, bringing his signature project one step closer to reality.
The ballroom, one of the most controversial projects in the nation’s history, is part of the 90,000-square-foot New East Wing addition to the White House.
At its scale, the wing will be approximately 5,000 square feet smaller than the Executive Mansion and West Wing combined. The ballroom itself is estimated to be approximately 22,000 square feet.
President Trump announced the Ballroom Project in July 2025. Changes since then include:
- Construction cost estimates tripled from $200 million to $400 million.
- Added 350 seats.
- The east wing was demolished.
- The project’s lead architect was removed and later added by President Trump to the federal commission that will review the ballroom plans for approval.
Here’s a look at what the new East Wing project will look like and what’s happened so far.
How big is the new banquet hall?
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This before and after slider shows what the East Building site looked like before it was demolished to make room for the new addition. The building will house a banquet hall, offices for the first lady and her staff, and a movie theater.
Ballroom Cost and Seating Change Timeline
- February 5, 2025: President Trump has proposed that the Biden administration build a new ballroom for the White House, which he said would cost about $100 million. “I offered to do it,” he said. “And I never got a response.”
- July 9th: President Trump will later appoint three panelists to the 12-member National Capital Planning Commission, one of two federal bodies that will review banquet plans.
- July 31st: The White House announced that construction on the 650-seat ballroom will begin in September. The cost is listed at $200 million. McCreary Architects will be the lead designer.
- September 19th: President Trump has said the banquet hall will cost $250 million.
- October 15th: President Trump said the banquet hall can seat up to 999 people.
- October 20th: Demolition of the east building begins.
- October 21st: President Trump has said the banquet hall will cost $300 million.
- October 23rd: Demolition of the east building has been completed.
- October 28th: President Trump has fired six sitting members of the American Board of Fine Arts, the second of two federal bodies reviewing the ballroom project.
- December 4th: Shalom Baranes Associates has been appointed ballroom designer, replacing architect James McCreary, who originally worked on the project.
- December 12th: The nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking an injunction to halt construction. No verdict has been rendered.
- December 17th: President Trump has said the banquet hall will cost $400 million.
- January 8, 2026: The “East Building Modernization Project” is announced at a briefing session of the National Capital Planning Commission.
- January 16th: Multiple news sources reported that President Trump has appointed new members of the American Board of Fine Arts. One of them is architect James McCreary. This appointment provides a quorum for the committee, which may meet to consider banquet plans.
- February 10th: At Truth Social, President Trump said the banquet hall is “on budget and ahead of schedule.”
- February 13th: President Trump sent the final plan to the National Capital Planning Commission.
- February 19th: The Fine Arts Commission, a seven-member commission all appointed by President Trump in January, approved the ballroom plan on a 6-0 vote. Mr. McCreary abstained from voting.
- March 5th: The National Capital Planning Commission will consider banquet hall plans.
Who pays for the ballroom?
The White House has not released an official list of donors to the Ballroom, but on October 23, 2025, it released a list of donors to news organizations. Here’s the list as reported by PBS, The Hill and NBC News:
How does the ballroom seating capacity compare?
What planning organization has a say in the banquet hall?
What is the status of the Ballroom lawsuit?
The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit in December against President Trump and several federal agencies, seeking to halt construction of the banquet hall. The nonprofit group argued that Trump should have gotten approval from Congress before demolishing the East Tower.
Trump’s lawyers said the president did not need approval from lawmakers because the project was funded by private donations and not with taxpayer dollars.
A verdict is expected to be handed down this month.
Contributed by Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, Bart James
SOURCE USA TODAY NETWORK REPORTS AND INVESTIGATIONS. Reuters; worldarchitects.com; whitehouse.org;architectmagazine.com;commonedge.org
