Trump Kennedy Center board votes to close facility for $257M renovation

Plans to close the Trump Kennedy Center were made official in a board vote Monday afternoon, setting in motion a two-year renovation process that some Democratic lawmakers say should have required greater input from Congress.

The board approved the changes unanimously, according to a source familiar with the vote.

The source also said the board set July 6 as the official closing date, named Matt Floca, vice president of center facilities operations, as the new president of the Trump Kennedy Center and ended its exclusive affiliation with the Washington Opera.

The overhaul will include repairs to the building’s heating, ventilation, air conditioning systems and elevators, among other structural renovations, according to project plans submitted to Congress.

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Exterior of the Kennedy Center on the Potomac River, Washington, DC, undated. (Hulton Archives/Getty Images)

Allocations for the project, set aside in Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, are expected to cost $257 million.

Last year, Trump appointed a hand-picked group of board members, leading Democratic critics to condemn the center’s management and renovation as direct control of the White House.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., an ex-officio member of the board, blasted Monday’s vote, arguing the renovations were done unilaterally.

“Unfortunately, recent actions by the president and some board members have treated the center as a personal vanity project, including firing career management staff, removing trustees, and sidelining ex-officio members who are supposed to provide oversight to Congress,” Warner said Monday.

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Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., arrives at the Capitol Visitor Center for a briefing on Iran Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Ex-officio members provide input to legislators in the management of the Kennedy Center.

Ric Grenell, the current former chairman of the Kennedy Center, pushed back on Democrats’ characterizations, saying lawmakers were given multiple opportunities to speak in the process.

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“We gave all of this information to Congress. It was in the Big Beautiful Bill. We didn’t just come up with the $257 million number. We actually gave them details of what needed to be fixed,” Grenell said.

“My reaction is: Last summer we gave you this information, you could have come on any number of visits we give to members of Congress.”

President Donald Trump speaks to the media alongside Richard Grenell, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Kennedy Center, March 17, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump called the renovations key restorations.

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“Subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees, I have determined that the quickest way to bring the Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of success, beauty and grandeur is to cease entertainment operations for a period of approximately two years,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social article in February.

Trump promised the center would return with a “grand reopening” once renovations were completed.