President Trump has hired a new architect to help design the White House ballroom, but the current architect, with whom the president has had some disagreements, will remain on the team, sources told CBS News.
The new firm is Washington, D.C.-based Shalom Baranes Associates, the sources said. White House officials said the new architect was brought on as the project enters a new phase and new expertise is required.
“Shalom is an accomplished architect whose work has shaped the architectural identity of our nation’s capital for decades and his experience will be a great asset to the completion of this project,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said.
He predicted the ballroom would be the “greatest addition to the White House since the Oval Office.”
The current architect, James McCrery, remains in a consulting role, the sources said. He and Mr. Trump have clashed over the size of the ballroom and its synchronicity with the main White House building, sources told CBS News. The Washington Post previously reported on the disagreements.
A spokesperson for McCrery did not respond to a request for comment. Shalom Baranes Associates didn’t immediately comment.
The White House plans to submit ballroom construction plans to the National Capital Planning Commission this month, according to White House official and NCPC chairman Will Scharf.
The plans will then move through the commission’s process at a “normal and deliberative pace,” Scharf said in remarks at the beginning of a monthly NCPC meeting Thursday.
He said he was excited for the commission to play a “constructive role” in “one of the most important projects” in Washington.
Scharf reiterated that the commission does not have a role in site preparation or demolition.
On Thursday, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut introduced legislation that would require NCPC review “before initiating any demolition activities.” The bill, if passed, would also require congressional approval for privately-funded White House construction projects.
Blumenthal said his bill, the “No Palaces Act,” “prevents future presidents from recklessly destroying historic sites like the East Wing without approval from the independent National Capital Planning Commission or consideration from Congress.”
Mr. Trump said this week that the construction effort is going well, although first lady Melania Trump dislikes the noise.
“I wouldn’t say my wife is thrilled,” he said Tuesday at a Cabinet meeting. “She hears pile drivers in the background all day, all night.
“They go till 12 o’clock in the morning — day, night, pile drivers. ‘Darling, could you turn off the pile drivers?’ ‘Sorry, darling. That’s progress,'” Mr. Trump said. “But no, we’re doing great. I think it’s going to be the finest ballroom ever built.”
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