Trump the developer is making D.C. his sandbox
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From interior decorating (plenty of gold) to taking over the Kennedy Center, Trump is leaning into his developer roots in Washington. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Donald Trump the developer wants to leave his physical footprint on D.C. in his second term.
Why it matters: While Elon Musk is plumbing the bureaucracy, Trump is gravitating to his first love: big buildings, land deals, beautification projects.
What they're saying: "I've always believed that President Trump viewed Washington from the eyes of a developer," Mayor Muriel Bowser said last week.
- Trump 1.0 didn't go deep into D.C. real estate, Bowser said, "but I think they're more interested in that this term."
Here's why hometown D.C. is Trump's new sandbox:
1. Trump wants to Palm Beach-ify the White House, paving the Rose Garden to build a patio. Designers have drafted options, the NY Times reported recently, and Trump is mulling hardwood floors for dancing.
- Playing interior decorator, Trump wants a grand chandelier in the Oval Office, the Times reports. And he's privately envisioning a $100 million ballroom, "like I have at Mar-a-Lago," per the Times.
2. Trump took over the Kennedy Center, and a pal he put on the center's board back in 2020 now has lots of flashy ideas. Like a marina on the Potomac for boat parking, suggests Paolo Zampolli, who's been tight with Trump all the way back to NYC.
- Zampolli's vision is a Cipriani restaurant upstairs, Politico reports, and a fashion runway in the grand hallway. "You gotta make it hot, man," he tells me on the phone.
- Even if Zampolli doesn't get everything he wants under a Trump-led Kennedy Center, he's a real estate guy whose ideas give you a read into Trump's aesthetic universe.
3. Trump is obsessed with D.C.'s buildings and landmarks.
- He's doubling down on classical architecture — like replacing the brutalist FBI building. Calling for a "take over" of D.C., he wants homeless tents off the "beautiful" lawns.
- His administration wants to offload federal buildings in Southwest, allowing for a splashy neighborhood between the National Mall and Wharf.
- The Trump family, meanwhile, is interested in buying back their old hotel at the Post Office building — its owners are still shopping it around, Semafor reported yesterday.
What's the motivation? "Trump is thinking about his legacy," suggests Justin Shubow, a critic of modern architecture who chaired the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts late in Trump's first term.
- The GOP platform explicitly called for making D.C. "the Most Beautiful Capital City," and a new FBI headquarters could be "the centerpiece of his beautification plans for the city," Shubow tells Axios.
Up next: America's 250th birthday — and Trump wants to build a "National Garden of American Heroes."
💭 Town Talker is a weekly column about money and power in Washington. Tell me about the talk of the town: [email protected].
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the name of the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts.