Kennedy Center officials said in a court filing Wednesday that the shuttered building could reopen once major safety hazards detailed in a new report are fixed — even as President Donald Trump has cast the center’s future on whether he gets his name engraved on the landmark.
The status report filed by the Justice Department in federal court offers a narrower explanation for the shutdown than Trump’s warning that the center could end up “ripped down” if he is not recognized on the building.
A sworn declaration from Executive Director Matt Floca details several “hazard and life-safety concerns,” including collapsing ceiling panels, water-infiltrating electrical transformers and concerns about unsafe theater equipment, but contains no finding that the center needs to be demolished.
The center’s Trump-appointed board voted last week to close the venue during the $250 million renovations. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) is fighting the closure in her role as an ex officio board member, arguing that the shutdown violates an existing court order from Judge Christopher R. Cooper and could be a pretext for something permanent.
Trending
Floca said he extended the temporary closure for another week “to protect employees, patrons, artists, contractors, and other members of the public while the Center evaluated documented falling-object hazards and other infrastructure conditions and determined what measures would be required for safe occupancy and emergency egress,” according to the report.
The filing included new details about the building’s condition, centering around the severe storms that pummeled D.C. earlier this month, in which “a large section of ceiling plaster weighing approximately 150 pounds fell from approximately 60 feet to the floor in a public thoroughfare.”
Water apparently also made its way into an electrical transformer vault, according to a Tuesday inspection by WB Engineers+Consultants. The contractor also discovered concrete fragments and other debris on the equipment, according to the court filing.
Staff also flagged problems with opera house lighting supports and counterweight rigging systems.
Floca said that the emergency shutdown is separate from the board’s longer-term closure plan. Wednesday’s filing says interim safeguards would not resolve the underlying deterioration or determine the scope or duration of a larger renovation.
After the center’s board approved the closure, Trump asserted that renovations would stay off the table altogether unless he received a favorable court decision.
“The Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place,” he wrote on Truth Social.
The court filing provides no firm reopening date.
Beatty’s attorneys did not immediately respond to The Washington Sun’s requests for comment.
Author
