Overview
- Firms linked to the East Wing work, including EAI Rolloff, ACECO and McReary Architects, pulled or pared back web pages after waves of hostile online reviews, while Clark Construction kept its site unchanged.
- The administration leveled the East Wing to build a roughly 90,000-square-foot ballroom now estimated at about $300 million and financed with private donations.
- President Trump says he will contribute his own money, and reporting has identified donors that include Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft.
- NCPC chair Will Scharf has said the commission lacks jurisdiction over demolition and site preparation, indicating formal review would apply to the vertical construction phase.
- Preservationists describe the teardown as the first major exterior change in decades and contrast it with the Obama-era, congressionally funded utility upgrades largely carried out underground.