Kennedy Center director tells board building is unsafe

Board meets Tuesday on naming and closure resolutions

Matt Floca, the executive director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts appointed by President Donald Trump, told the center’s board of trustees that engineers estimate about one-third of the building’s 278 soffit panels need immediate replacement, a finding the engineers’ estimate concludes makes the structure unsafe. The safety report was filed ahead of the board’s Tuesday meeting.

Floca also reported that a section of plaster from the ceiling in the Grand Foyer broke and fell near the entrance to the Concert Hall after the center suffered damage during a storm earlier this month. Corrosion has been noted in the building’s structure during inspections, according to Floca’s account to the board.

Officials selected by Trump circulated a 57-page document ahead of the meeting proposing that the only way to save the center from closure is to add Trump’s name to the building. The document says Trump will “raise the necessary funds to keep the Center from bankruptcy” while the building is renovated, but will not step in without “appropriate recognition.”

The document lists several text options for the building’s facade, including “Renovation Restoration and Endowment overseen by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”

Trump’s name has been added to and removed from the Kennedy Center once before in the current dispute. Judge Christopher R. Cooper ordered earlier this year that Trump’s name must be removed from the building, ruling that only Congress has the authority to make such a change.

The board of trustees, which includes 14 members chosen by the president, approved a plan to add Trump’s name back to the building last month. Cooper is overseeing another legal challenge that seeks to block that plan.

The Washington Post reported earlier this year that the Kennedy Center is projected to have about a $23 million deficit this year despite making spending cuts.

The board is scheduled to meet Tuesday to consider the naming proposal alongside a separate resolution to close the building.