Overview
- NCPC chair Will Scharf said the White House will submit ballroom designs later in December, starting the commission’s formal review.
- Shalom Baranes Associates has been named lead architect after reported clashes over scale with James McCrery II, who stays on as a consultant.
- The project is described as roughly 90,000 square feet with space for about 999 people and an estimated cost near $300 million, which the White House says will be privately funded.
- The East Wing was demolished in October and site work has continued even though formal designs have not yet been filed with the planning commission.
- Under the 1952 law, NCPC’s recommendations are not binding on the White House, while a new bill from Sen. Richard Blumenthal would require pre-demolition review and congressional approval for privately funded projects.