President Donald Trump’s dream White House ballroom may be just a teensy bit bigger than promised.
In an interview with NBC News, the president confirmed that the $200 million luxury event space he is reportedly self-funding has already ballooned in size as construction began this week.
“We’re making it a little bigger. It will be top-of-the-line, as good as it can get anywhere in the world,” Trump said.
The updated plan will see the ballroom seat 900 people, up from the original 650, an increase of almost 40 percent.
Planning documents shared by the White House in July indicated that the finished ballroom would measure 90,000 square feet. However, if Trump plans to increase the space in proportion to the resized guest capacity, the supersized ballroom could be nearly 125,000 square feet.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House to confirm the revised design plans.
The project is the most significant change to the White House complex in close to a century and has been described as “bringing Mar-a-Lago to Washington.”
It is thought to take inspiration from Trump’s property empire, with the president saying he could take the ballroom at Trump Turnberry golf club and “drop it right down there, and it would be beautiful.”
The renovations are part of an overall push to make the White House more in line with the president’s aesthetic preferences. The Oval Office has already been given the once-over by Trump’s “gold guy,” who emblazoned the U.S. seat of power in glitzy drippings.
Construction has recently been completed on the freshly paved-over Rose “Garden,” with Republican allies invited to dine in the parking lot-style space for an inaugural dinner last week.
Trump also plans to erect a temporary UFC ring on the South Lawn for a full fight card held as part of America’s 250th birthday celebrations.
Work began on the ballroom on Friday. While speaking to reporters about the passing of Charlie Kirk, Trump pivoted, directing attention to the arrival of construction machinery.
“Right there you see all the trucks?” Trump asked. “They just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House.”
According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, no taxpayer money is being spent on the ballroom; the cost is being covered entirely by Trump and “patriot” donors.
The identities of said donors is expected to remain anonymous, unless they choose to reveal themselves, with the arrangement raising ethical concerns around transparency and political influence over the administration.
The idea for an expanded ballroom space at the White House was first floated by Trump in 2016 but the plan was rejected.
Experts believe the 2029 timetable for completion is “optimistic,” but the White House has said the ballroom would be functional “long before the end of President Trump’s term” in January of that year.
The post Trump Supersizes His $200 Million Dream Ballroom appeared first on The Daily Beast.
