By
Ed O’Keefe
Senior White House and Political Correspondent
Updated on: February 2, 2026 / 4:58 PM EST / CBS News
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will close for approximately two years for “Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding,” President Trump announced Sunday. Complete closure of the Washington, D.C., venue will begin on July 4, he said.
It is not yet clear how extensive the changes to the current building will be. When asked if the center would be torn down, Mr. Trump said, “I’m not ripping it down. I’ll be using the steel. So we’re using the structure, we’re using some of the marble and some of the marble comes down.” He estimated the project will cost about $200 million.
Mr. Trump said the decision to fully close the center, rather than do partial construction while it remained open, came after a year of expert review. “The temporary closure will produce a much faster and higher quality result!,” he wrote on Truth Social, calling the center “tired, broken, and dilapidated” and promising it will become “a World Class Bastion of Arts, Music, and Entertainment.”
Interim Kennedy Center Director Richard Grenell said on social media the renovation is desperately needed and that temporarily closing the center “just makes sense,” calling it “a brief closure in retrospect.” Neither Mr. Trump nor Grenell provided specifics about structural problems at the center.
In December, the center’s board voted to rename the institution the Trump-Kennedy Center and Mr. Trump’s name was added to the building’s exterior. That move drew outrage from Democratic lawmakers, who argued the name cannot be changed without legislation because the center was created by Congress. Several high-profile performers scheduled to appear at the venue said they were pulling out after Mr. Trump’s takeover. On Thursday, Mr. Trump hosted a premiere of the Melania Trump documentary “Melania” at the center.
Staffers said they learned of the renovation and closure plans Sunday evening from Mr. Trump’s social media post. A senior staffer, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said, “I don’t know what any of it means.”
The president’s plans follow his decision last year to demolish the East Wing of the White House to make way for a new ballroom, a project now the subject of a lawsuit seeking to halt its construction. Mr. Trump said the Kennedy Center closure is subject to approval by board members. He ousted a group of Kennedy Center board members last February and installed close allies, who then voted to name him chair.
John F. Kennedy’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, running as a Democrat for a House seat, criticized the move on social media, saying Mr. Trump “can take the Kennedy Center for himself. He can change the name, shut the doors, and demolish the building. He can try to kill JFK. But JFK is kept alive by us now rising up to remove Donald Trump, bring him to justice, and restore the freedoms generations fought for.”
Democracy Defenders Action and the Washington Litigation Group, which have already sued the administration on behalf of former board member Rep. Joyce Beatty over the renaming, threatened further legal action Sunday over the closure. “The Kennedy Center was illegally renamed. Ever since, artists and patrons have left in protest. That is embarrassing. Donald Trump’s recent announcement that he will be closing the Center for two years raises serious questions about whether his purpose isn’t to renovate but to shut the Center down to avoid further embarrassment,” the groups said in a joint statement. They said they will consider all legal remedies to address the development.
CBS News has reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment.
Emma Nicholson and Joe Walsh contributed to this report.