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The massive renovations at the Trump–Kennedy Center that are expected to shutter Washington’s premier performing arts venue for two years will focus on correcting deferred maintenance — including overhauling its heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems and fixing its broken elevators, Fox News Digital learned.
“In less than 1 year, Trump has balanced the budget, raised over $130 million from donors, and secured $257 million from Congress,” Vice President of Public Relations Roma Daravi said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “We are financially stable yet the building is still physically in trouble.”
“Decades of gross negligence left this institution with a broken budget, $100 million operating deficit, $26 million bottom-line deficit, and $250 million of deferred maintenance needs,” she continued.
President Donald Trump announced Sunday that the venue would close July 4, which coincides with America 250 celebrations honoring the nation’s semiquincentennial anniversary of the U.S.’ founding.
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“If we don’t close, the quality of Construction will not be nearly as good, and the time to completion, because of interruptions with Audiences from the many Events using the Facility, will be much longer. The temporary closure will produce a much faster and higher quality result!” Trump said on Truth Social Sunday explaining why the complex needs to shutter for two years.
A Trump–Kennedy official told Fox News Digital that the complex, which first opened in 1971, has suffered decades of neglect by former leadership that has left the building in “extremely poor condition.”
The official described the renovations as “a restoration and beautification project,” that will include updating its broken elevators, updating its HVAC system and taking on $250 million in maintenance issues that the official said were ignored by previous leadership.
Presidents historically have played direct roles in Kennedy Center governance, appointing most of the institution’s board of trustees to six-year terms under federal law. Trump appointed a new board in 2025, which then elected him their chairman.
The official said the Trump–Kennedy Center would simply not survive if the maintenance was not done.
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Trump said Monday that the renovations will cost an estimated $200 million while underscoring the building is not being torn down.
“I’m not ripping it out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I’ll be using the steel. So we’re using the structure.”
“We’re using some of the marble, and some of the marble comes down, but when it’s open, it’ll be brand new and really beautiful,” he said. “We’re going to have all brand-new air conditioning, heating.”
Daravi continued in a statement provided to Fox News Digital that the temporary closure for an “intensive restoration and beautification project” is “the most logical choice to allow for comprehensive renovations, efficient project completion, and responsible use of taxpayer dollars.”
“With President Trump’s proven record of delivering projects under budget and ahead of schedule, the finished Center will reflect the true beauty of America,” she added. “The short-term inconvenience of a temporary closure will result in a revitalized cultural landmark built to serve generations to come.”
Ambassador Richard Grenell serves as the Trump–Kennedy Center’s president and praised Trump and Congress for appropriating $257 million for the renovations. He added that leadership is not only focused on saving the center from ruin, but to “make it the finest Arts Institution in the world.”
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“It desperately needs this renovation and temporarily closing the Center just makes sense – it will enable us to better invest our resources, think bigger and make the historic renovations more comprehensive,” Grenell said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. “It also means we will be finished faster. President Trump has a reputation for delivering large construction projects on time, under budget and beautifully finished.”
The renovations come after the center’s board of trustees unanimously voted to rename it “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” in December 2025.
The name change set off swift rebuke among Democrats, with nonvoting board members including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and others claiming the move was illegal as it did not earn congressional approval ahead of time. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced legislation in January that seeks to bar sitting presidents from putting their own names on federal buildings, linking it to the Trump-Kennedy Center name update.
“For Trump to put his name on federal buildings is arrogant, and it is illegal,” Sanders said in a press release Tuesday. “We must put an end to this narcissism — and that’s what this bill does.
The center said that the board agreed Trump saved the institution from financial ruin during his second term.
Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.
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