By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -After giving the Rose Garden a Mar-a-Lago style makeover and the Oval Office a golden tinge, President Donald Trump now has set his sights on renovating the White House’s East Wing with a $200 million ballroom.
The project could prove to be the most extensive one since Harry Truman in 1952 completed an entire renovation of the White House, which was originally built in 1800.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday that work on the 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-meter) facility will begin in September and will be completed “long before” Trump’s four-year term ends in January 2029.
Presidents have used the intimate State Dining Room for events, as well as the larger East Room for bigger VIP lists, and sometimes will have a tent temporarily constructed on the South Lawn to house big dinners.
The $200 million cost will be donated by Trump and other donors and it will be built on the eastern part of the mansion, she said.
Trump has frequently complained the White House lacks a large-scale ballroom for entertaining. He has been determined to put his stamp on the executive mansion, most dramatically by installing gold-filigreed decorations in the Oval Office.
The Rose Garden is currently a construction site with the grass uprooted and replaced by a patio of the type Trump enjoys at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach.
Trump also installed two large flagpoles, one on the North Lawn and another on the South Lawn.
The East Wing of the White House will be “modernized” as part of the project and staffers with offices there, including aides to first lady Melania Trump, will be temporarily relocated, Leavitt said.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Sandra Maler)
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