On October 22, US President Donald Trump raised his estimate for the White House dance room, saying the project would cost $300 million, up from the original $200 million and defending the White House's decision to demolish the East wing.
"To do it properly, we have to break the existing structure. We are not touching the White House," Donald Trump told reporters at the Oval Office, releasing a project drawings and saying the new dance room will be connected by a "glass bridge" with the main structure of the White House.
Donald Trump also said the military is expected to be closely involved in the project and that the project will be "payed 100% by me and some of my friends".
President Donald Trump said he has been transparent about the plan to build a 8,360m2 dance room, nearly double the 5,110m2 area of the White House's main area.
Monitoring groups, politicians and even some conservative commentators have questioned whether President Donald Trump will act quickly to break the iconic wings of the East, which were the starting point for visits to the White House and the place where the first ladies and women's offices were located.
White House officials have said the budget for the renovation comes from private donations, including from wealthy individuals and large companies with contracts with the federal government, including Amazon, Lockheed Martin and Palantir technologies.
The donations are being managed by the Trust for the National Mall - a nonprofit organization that has helped manage federal projects such as the restoration of the Washington Memorial after it was damaged in the 2011 earthquake.
On October 21, White House officials said they planned to demolish the entire East wing, considering it a "modernization" of the building. Officials also welcomed the previous renovations, issuing a note emphasizing that President Donald Trump is continuing his "proud presidential legacy" of changing the White House campus.
This week, President Donald Trump said the dance room will have a capacity of nearly 1,000 people, an increase compared to the previous estimate of about 650 people.
Also on October 21, the White House said it would soon send the dance room design to the US National Capital Planning Commission, which is required to consider any outside construction projects at the White House and will decide whether to approve the new building or not.
