Trump administration says it might demolish the Kennedy Center if court blocks renovations

The Trump administration is, for the first time, threatening the demolition of the Kennedy Center if the arts institution isn’t allowed to close for two years for renovations.

“Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years,” Justice Department attorney Brantley T. Mayers wrote in a court filing on Monday.

The filing notes that any potential outdoor amphitheater would “fail to adequately honor” President John F. Kennedy, “but would be simpler and more economical to build, operate, and maintain.”

The DOJ attorneys called the Kennedy Center “structurally unsound, fundamentally unsafe, and embarr***ing to the Nation’s Capital.”

The filing makes a dramatic twist in the monthslong saga to renovate the historic arts institution, which has faced multiple legal challenges and criticism from Democrats, musicians and members of the Kennedy family.

This language is a shift from what Kennedy Center Executive Director Matt Floca has used in recent months to describe what the board has said are necessary renovations. Floca has said the renovations would include a “total replacement of stage lifts and rigging systems” and wide-ranging electrical work and leak prevention that could be completed within two years if the facility was shut down during the renovations. There was no mention of the possibility of razing the site.

The administration has “committed an enormous amount of time and energy in planning for the forthcoming renovation and restoration of this building, a task which President Trump, given his unrivaled expertise and experience in real estate and construction, and prominence as President, is uniquely qualified to accomplish,” Mayers wrote Monday in opposition to a motion from Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, to block the administration from closing the center completely.

“Even Beatty should prefer a healthy, restored Center to a decaying hulk that is doomed to inevitable destruction or collapse. The Court should allow the Board and President Trump to bring the Center back to a level of greatness far higher than it has ever had before. This would be the fitting tribute that President Kennedy so well deserves.”

Beatty has claimed the closure decision was rushed and that board members weren’t presented with enough information about various scenarios before having to vote on it.

The congresswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment about DOJ filing.

She is also challenging the Trump-appointed board’s renewed bid to add Trump’s name to the front of the building. A judge found the board’s earlier bid to do so was unlawful and compelled it to remove the president’s name from the building. Trump is appealing and the board voted this month to add his name back to the building in a slightly different way.

There is a hearing scheduled on the planned name change and closure in D.C. on Thursday afternoon.