WASHINGTON  –  A consortium of the nation’s top architectural and historic preservation groups is targeting President Donald Trump’s plans to temporarily close and extensively renovate the Kennedy Centre, filing a new lawsuit Monday that asks a federal judge to indefinitely halt the project. The complaint filed at a federal court in Washington, DC, takes aim at the process, which bypassed approvals from Congress and key commissions and therefore violates historic preservation laws, the groups contend. It comes just days after the arts center’s board of trustees, which is stacked with Trump loyalists, unanimously approved plans for a two-year closure that will begin in July, marking the latest effort to impose the president’s style and cultural tastes in the nation’s capital. A judge is already weighing a separate challenge to Trump’s plans by a Democratic congresswoman who serves as an ex-officio member of the board. The new case was brought by eight groups, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the American Institute of Architects, the DC Preservation League, and the American Society of Landscape Architects. They’re asking a judge to pause “any further work on the Project” until the government completes a standard review and consultation processes with Congress, the Commission of Fine Arts, the National Capital Planning Commission, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, among other entities, according to a draft of the complaint obtained by CNN. The groups are represented by a trio of law firms that are already involved in other cases related to Trump’s development in Washington: his sprawling East Wing ballroom addition, his attempt to paint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building white, and his efforts to redevelop the East Potomac Golf Links. The Kennedy Center requires significant maintenance, as outlined in a 2021 comprehensive building plan obtained by CNN that estimated more than $250 million was required for projects such as drainage and waterproofing improvements, exterior wall repair, and roof replacement. 

Congress approved $257 million for the center last year as part of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”  Trump announced in February that after an extensive “one-year review,” the arts institution would need to close for roughly two years for the renovations, which, he said “will produce a much faster and higher quality result.”

He subsequently suggested that the project could be dramatic — a demolition effort short of a teardown, but one so severe that it would leave the Washington building’s steel “fully exposed.” A source close to the center told CNN at the time that Trump has very specific ideas about what he wants to do to the building, and those ideas — which have not been publicly released — don’t align with the complex’s current state. Documents provided to the board of trustees ahead of last week’s closure vote did not provide new information on what the renovations would entail that necessitated a full closure of the center, which will have significant impact on staffing, bookings and donors. The documents obtained by CNN included that 2021 review, an eight-page report from 2022 on soffit failure on the building’s exterior, and minutes from a March 2 “Buildings and Grounds” subcommittee meeting.