The Kennedy Center’s main hall ceiling partially collapsed on Friday afternoon after torrential rain fell across the district that morning. No one was hurt.
The Kennedy Center’s Main Building closed for the remainder of the day on Friday after the incident happened at about 5 p.m., but is expected to reopen today for its normal operating hours, according to internal communication obtained by NBC Washington. However, the Grand Foyer will remain closed throughout the weekend until the area is safe.
“Another example of the urgent need to close for renovation and revitalization, as our Chairman President Trump has championed. Fortunately, no one was injured when the main hall’s ceiling collapsed,” Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations at the Kennedy Center, said in a statement.
President Trump has threatened to demolish the center if a judge denies the administration’s request to close it for two years in order to make renovations.
“Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years,” Justice Department attorney Brantley T. Mayers wrote in a court filing on Aug. 24.
The Kennedy Center’s board voted last month to reinstate President Trump’s name to the building’s facade. A federal judge last week did not make a final decision on an emergency motion seeking to block the center’s renaming and two-year closure.
