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White House To File Plans This Month For 90,000‑Square‑Foot Ballroom

11:00 PM, 12/04/2025
White House To File Plans This Month For 90,000‑Square‑Foot Ballroom

The White House plans to file formal designs this month for a proposed 90,000-square-foot ballroom, about three months after site work began, National Capital Planning Commission chair Will Scharf said. President Trump says the venue will seat 999 and estimates place the cost near $300 million, which the administration says will be privately funded. Site preparation began without NCPC sign-off, and the East Wing — long home to the first lady's offices — was demolished in October.

White House To Submit Ballroom Plans To Federal Planning Commission

The White House is expected to formally file plans this month for a proposed 90,000-square-foot ballroom, roughly three months after site preparation began, Will Scharf, chair of the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), said at the agency's monthly meeting.

“Once plans are submitted, that’s really when the role of this commission, and its professional staff, will begin,” Scharf said.

The proposed venue would be nearly twice the footprint of the Executive Mansion and, according to President Donald Trump, is intended to seat 999 people. Cost estimates for the project have risen to about $300 million from earlier projections, a figure the White House says will be covered by private donors.

Scharf has stressed a distinction between demolition work and rebuilding, noting the NCPC typically exercises authority over reconstruction and major renovations. L. Preston Bryant Jr., who previously chaired the commission under President Obama, told The Associated Press the agency's approval process usually unfolds in four stages, beginning with an early consultation when a project is still conceptual.

Despite the pending review, site preparation work began in September without formal NCPC sign-off, and the East Wing — which traditionally housed the first lady's offices and several other White House staff — was demolished in October. Construction activity has continued daily, with noise from the site audible around the White House complex.

Supporters of the plan say a privately funded ballroom would expand the White House's ability to host large events. Opponents and some planning experts have raised questions about the project's scale, the increase in projected costs, and the decision to proceed with demolition and site work before the federal planning commission completed its review. The NCPC's forthcoming review will determine whether the project meets applicable planning standards and procedural requirements.

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