The construction of President Donald Trump’s planned $250 million White House ballroom has officially begun, and it appears to involve the demolition of part of the East Wing.
Trump confirmed in a speech on Monday that construction had “just started” on the ballroom. The same day, photos and video surfaced that showed demolition underway on the East Wing. The Washington Post first reported on the activity.
When announcing the ballroom’s coming construction in July, the White House said that it would be “where the small, heavily changed, and reconstructed East Wing currently sits,” though it said the “White House Ballroom will be substantially separated from the main building of the White House.”
Trump himself previously said that the 90,000 square foot expansion wouldn’t “interfere with the current building.”
“It’ll be near it but not touching it—and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of. It’s my favorite. It’s my favorite place. I love it,” Trump said at an Executive Order signing in July.
On Monday, Trump characterized the East Wing as “completely separate from the White House itself.”
“The East Wing is being fully modernized as part of this process, and will be more beautiful than ever when it is complete!” the President wrote on Truth Social.
The Administration has not responded to TIME’s request for further details on the construction of the ballroom.
The President said earlier in the day that the space would fit 999 people, substantially more than the capacity of the East Room. The expansion itself could nearly double the size of the existing structure.
Last week, Trump welcomed nearly 130 donors and allies to celebrate their pledged contributions to the ballroom. Among the companies represented at the dinner, according to a White House official, were Amazon, Coinbase, Google and T-Mobile.
The White House stated in its July announcement that the East Wing was constructed in 1902 and has been renovated many times, with its second story being added in 1942. It also said that McCrery Architects would lead the design and Clark Construction the building of the ballroom, which the White House noted is “expected to be completed long before the end of President Trump’s term.”
In August, Trump renovated the White House Rose Garden, adding white and yellow-striped umbrellas like those at his Mar-a-Lago private club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Trump has said he offered to construct a ballroom in the past during the Obama and Biden Administrations, but both declined.
“We’ll have the most beautiful ballroom in the country,” Trump said on Monday.
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