President Donald Trump entered his second term in the White House with the eye of a veteran real-estate developer and a vision to “Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Again,” scoping out facilities and areas he thought needed improvement in Washington, D.C.
The White House released on Friday its budget proposal for 2027, which included a $10 billion request to support the National Guard deployment in Washington and infrastructure improvements for the city. The investment would include several beautification, transportation, and safety initiatives for the district.
Trump’s improvement list over the first year of his second term grew to include plans to renovate the East Wing of the White House, create an “Independence Arch” in front of Arlington Memorial Bridge, and rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to include his name.
Trump’s efforts to reconstruct and rename buildings have been met by critics who have vocally opposed the projects and filed lawsuits to prevent their completion, but also by supporters and those who have sought to attach his name to more buildings across the country.
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Here’s where several of his reconstruction projects planned for Washington, D.C., stand today.
Trump-Kennedy Center
Both a reconstruction and a renaming project, the Trump-Kennedy Center has been at the epicenter of Trump’s plans for his Washington, D.C., renovations since the beginning of his tenure. Within the first months of his second term, Trump began overhauling the board of the arts institution and appointed himself as chairman.
The Trump-Kennedy Center is seeking to “address disrepair and deferred maintenance” of the building, the institution previously told the Washington Examiner. The renovations will include maintenance to the exterior, improvements to the structural integrity, and will work to bring it into compliance with safety and security standards. The reconstruction is set to be completed with $257 million in funding designated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
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In mid-December 2025, the board unanimously voted to change the institution’s name to the “Trump-Kennedy Center.” The board made the change “because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation.”
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), who is an ex officio member of the Trump-Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, filed a lawsuit over the institution’s name change several days after Leavitt’s announcement.
Beatty said the vote was not unanimous and that her input was not allowed, but the then-center president, Richard Grenell, fired back. “You are a non-voting ex-officio member. All ex-officio Members never get to vote,” Grenell said in an X post responding to Beatty.
Trump has since removed Grenell from the helm of the Trump-Kennedy Center, appointing Matt Floca, the center’s vice president of facilities operations, as the new president on March 13.
On Feb. 1, 2026, Trump announced that the Trump-Kennedy Center would be closing on July 4, 2026, for about two years for renovations.
“I have determined that the fastest way to bring The Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of Success, Beauty, and Grandeur, is to cease Entertainment Operations for an approximately two year period of time,” Trump said.
Beatty then amended her complaint to file a preliminary injunction to prohibit Trump from moving forward with the planned temporary closure and renovations. Beatty has also since asked for a judgment on the renaming of the Trump-Kennedy Center.
U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, ordered in mid-March that Beatty would be able to voice her opinions in subsequent Trump-Kennedy Center meetings on the matters.
The next hearing in the lawsuit is scheduled for April 28 at 10 a.m.
The reconstruction of the Kennedy Center has also been challenged in court by a group of eight architectural and historical preservationist organizations, who argue that the process is out of compliance with federal historic preservation and environmental laws. The Trump-Kennedy Center defendants have until April 24 to reply to the group’s preliminary injunction motion to halt the construction at the site.
White House ballroom
Trump is seeking to create a nearly $400 million White House ballroom in place of the building’s East Wing, which the administration demolished in October 2025. The ballroom will be privately funded, paid for with a mix of Trump’s personal funds and money from donors.
Trump has hailed the 90,000 square-foot ballroom as a hallmark of his improvements to the White House, adding in March that the project will include a military bunker as part of its national security enhancements. The grand ballroom will be expected to hold 999 people for parties and state visits, the president said.
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The state of the White House ballroom, like the Trump-Kennedy Center, is in legal limbo as preservationists sue the administration over the steps it took to begin the reconstruction.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, temporarily blocked the ballroom project from moving forward on Tuesday as the court deliberates on the legality of the project. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, also a plaintiff in the case against the Trump-Kennedy Center, filed the lawsuit in late 2025.
“Unless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorization, construction has to stop,” Leon wrote in the decision.
The Department of Justice appealed Leon’s ruling. Trump slammed the decision and the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s decision to challenge the two projects, which he said were “under budget, ahead of schedule, and will be among the most magnificent Buildings of their kind anywhere in the World,” on Truth Social.
Trump also told reporters at the White House following the ruling that “Congressional approval is not necessary to put up a ballroom.”
Dealing a major win to Trump two days after Leon’s ruling, the National Capital Planning Commission voted to approve the construction of the ballroom proposed on Thursday. The commission’s blessing marks the clearing of a significant hurdle in the White House’s construction project.
A White House official told the Washington Examiner on Thursday that work on the ballroom as part of the so-called East Wing Modernization Project will continue as needed and as allowed by the judge.
Independence Arch
Trump initially introduced the concept of the triumphal “Independence Arch” at a White House event for donors to his East Wing Ballroom project.
The president displayed a rendering of the project, showing a large white arch with a golden figurine of Lady Liberty atop. The plan is for the approximately 250-foot arch to be located in the Memorial Circle on the National Park Service’s Columbia Island, which sits across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial.
“It’s going to be really beautiful. I think it’s going to be fantastic,” Trump said of the arch in October.
Trump told the donors present at the October White House event that the leftover funds from the ballroom project could be used to help construct the arch.
The Independence Arch is also facing a legal challenge that could imperil its construction. A group of Vietnam War veterans filed a lawsuit towards the end of February, arguing the president needs congressional approval to construct the arch.
“The planned Arch, by obstructing the symbolic and inspiring view from Arlington National Cemetery to the Lincoln Memorial, would dishonor their military and foreign service and the legacy of their comrades and other veterans buried at Arlington National Cemetery,” the complaint said, which was filed by veterans Michael Lemmon, Shaun Byrnes, and Jon Gundersen, along with retired Virginia historian Calder Loth.
Six Democratic lawmakers filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the plaintiff’s lawsuit in early March.
Obama-appointed District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan is presiding over the case. Chutkan told the DOJ that she does not want “ground to be broken while this case is pending” in a Thursday hearing.
As of now, the court is awaiting a joint status report from both parties on whether they could agree to halt construction of the arch as the court decision plays out.
Other renaming projects on the horizon
Trump has also floated renaming large infrastructure gateways, like the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia and New York City’s Penn Station, after himself in conversations with legislators. Following news of the possible renaming of Dulles Airport and Penn Station, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) came out against the floated proposals, calling the idea “presidential graffiti.”
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But in Florida, Sunshine State legislators are eager to honor Trump. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed legislation to rename Palm Beach International Airport to “President Donald J. Trump International Airport.”
The name change will take effect on July 1.
