The White House has announced plans for the construction of a $200 million new ballroom, a makeover wish often expressed by President Donald Trump.
On Thursday, July 31, the Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared that the room will be built with the help of donations by Trump and other anonymous donors, and the work is expected to start in September.
The new ballroom will be built alongside a "modernised" East Wing of the White House, which currently houses the offices of First Lady Melania Trump and other key White House posts.
In a briefing for reporters at the White House on Thursday, Leavitt said that the "much needed and exquisite addition" to the White House will have a seating capacity of about 650.
Currently, many formal White House functions are held in the White House's East Room, which can seat approximately 200 people.
The new ballroom would also eliminate the need for a "large and unsightly tent," which is usually installed for state dinners and other large events.
According to Leavitt, construction is expected to be completed "long before" the end of Trump's term in office in January 2029.
President Trump has repeatedly voiced his wishes for a new ballroom as part of renovations to the White House, which has already seen the installation of two large flagpoles, new gold decorations in the Oval Office, and the bulldozing and paving over of the famed Rose Garden.
"There's never been a President that's good at ballrooms," Trump said at an event at the White House on Thursday. "I'm good at building things."
In 2016, when on the campaign trail during the administration of Barack Obama, Trump famously offered to contribute $100m for the construction of a new ballroom for the White House to use to host events.
At the time, the offer was firmly rejected by the then-Press Secretary Josh Earnest.
