Work on its exterior columns will need to be redone because of shortcuts contractors took to create cosmetic improvements in time for events featuring President Trump, according to the allegations.

Dive Brief:

• Shortcuts taken to speed renovations to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts have had poor results and will incur additional costs to remedy the problems, according to former project managers who detailed their concerns in a whistleblower report that was provided to Congress.
• The rush stemmed from facility staff’s effort to make cosmetic changes to the center in time for President Donald Trump to receive the FIFA Peace Prize from the international soccer organization at a December 2025 ceremony there, the report alleges.
• “Instead of pursuing renovations tailored to the building’s actual needs, the Center rushed a series of renovations driven by the President’s aesthetic whims and his desire to star in a series of televised events in December,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said in a July 9 letter to Matt Floca, the center’s executive director.

Dive Insight:

Floca was the Kennedy Center’s facilities director before Trump named him executive director in March.

In the whistleblower report to the Government Accountability Project that it provided to Sen. Whitehouse, the former project managers allege the center, under Floca, bypassed the Kennedy Center’s procurement process...

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