President Trump has booted McCrery Architects from the East Wing ballroom project.
Now, Shalom Baranes Associates, a Washington, D.C. office with extensive experience working on General Services Administration (GSA) projects, will design the oversized event space. White House staffers and a representative for McCrery said McCrery isn’t fired per se, and that he will stay on the project in some capacity as a consultant.
The Washington Post reported that McCrery stepped down from the project in October. It was his firm’s size and inability to meet deadlines that were the determining factors. Trump and McCrery are still on good terms. “Everybody realized he couldn’t do it,” an anonymous White House staffer said.
Shalom Baranes Associates was founded in 1981. Some of its notable projects include its work on the Pentagon, a complete modernization and restoration of the U.S. Treasury Building and U.S. Department of Interiors headquarters, the GSA National Headquarters, and the American Red Cross Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
“As we begin to transition into the next stage of development on the White House Ballroom, the [Trump] administration is excited to share that the highly talented Shalom Baranes has joined the team of experts to carry out President Trump’s vision on building what will be the greatest addition to the White House since the Oval Office—the White House Ballroom,” said White House spokesperson Davis Ingle in a statement shared with CNN.
“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,” Ingle continued.
Trump and McCrery’s relationship was marred by controversy. The pair allegedly clashed over the size of the new ballroom, and other architectural decisions. On November 21, over a dozen AIA members sent McCrery a letter stating that they believed he had violated multiple AIA Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct rules.
Will Scharf, of the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), said today that he expects the Trump administration to send NCPC design plans for the new ballroom this month.
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