To celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, President Donald Trump has initiated numerous projects that would make lasting changes to the DC landscape. All are in various stages of completion or planning. Here’s an update on five of them.
East Wing Ballroom
On July 31, 2025, the White House announced its $200 million plan to replace the East Wing with a new ballroom that would expand seated capacity from 200 to 650 people. Since then the project’s capacity and costs have increased to 1,000 guests and $400 million.
Construction began in October 2025, but by December the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed suit to stop work on the project. While a bunker beneath the East Wing dates to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, the lawsuit revealed plans to expand and modernize it. The above-ground work was halted by Judge Richard Leon in March but classified, underground security work was allowed to continue in April. Then in May, Trump announced a rooftop “drone port” was needed to defend the nation’s capital.
The legal fight continues, and a final ruling from the DC Circuit is expected in the next few weeks. Trump has said the ballroom will open by 2028.
Reflecting Pool
In April of this year, Trump announced he would have the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool painted “American flag blue.” Trump said the project would fix leaks that persisted despite the Reflecting Pool’s 2012 reconstruction, which was intended to address chronic leaking and the structure’s gradual sinking into the marshy ground beneath it.
Initially estimated to take a few weeks and cost $1.5 million, the project lasted about six weeks and cost $14.2 million. The construction work is complete, and crews began to refill the Reflecting Pool on June 4, but it is already facing problems with green algae.
Now Trump says he wants to repaint the WWII Memorial fountain.
Arts of Peace Statues
Other changes around the Lincoln Memorial are also underway. The Arts of Peace, two monumental bronze statues flanking the Arlington Memorial Bridge at the Lincoln Memorial Circle, are being repaired and covered in a layer of 23.74-karat gold leaf. The project began in April, after the National Park Service awarded a $5 million contract to a gilding studio in Maryland.
The statues are currently concealed within scaffolding; it remains to be seen if they’ll be completed before their July 4 deadline.
Triumphal Arch
While some changes are already visible, several of Trump’s most ambitious proposals are still working their way through approvals and legal challenges. Trump announced his plans to build a 250-foot tall “triumphal arch” in Memorial Circle, opposite the Lincoln Memorial on Arlington Memorial Bridge. Topped with a 60-foot-tall Lady Liberty statue, The Washington Post created 3D renderings of the arch’s interior to reveal a series of elevators and stairs leading to an observation deck.
A lawsuit filed by three military veterans and a historic preservationist in February is still pending. And at the end of May, Reps. Dina Titus and Don Beyer (whose district includes Arlington National Cemetery) introduced the Arlington National Cemetery Viewshed Protection Act to prohibit its construction.
In the meantime, on June 4 the National Capital Planning Commission requested more information from the Department of the Interior regarding how the arch could potentially impact air travel navigation, as well as construction impacts on traffic. A cost estimate is still being determined.
National Garden of American Heroes
In a 2021 executive order, Trump outlined a plan to create the National Garden of American Heroes. The park that would consist of hundreds of statues honoring individuals who embody the “American spirit of daring and defiance, excellence and adventure, courage and confidence, loyalty and love.”
Trump’s proposed sculpture park remains in the planning phase despite the May announcement selecting West Potomac Park as its site. No comprehensive cost estimate has been released, but Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July 2025, which included $40 million to establish and maintain the park. And the National Endowment for Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts have jointly set aside $34 million for the project.
No construction has begun, and reports suggest the ambitious 250-statue project is unlikely to be completed in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations. Concerns have also emerged over potential impacts on the park’s heavily used recreational fields and public spaces.
Feature image, tanarch/stock.adobe.com
