Internal email points to Kennedy Center's continued closure
An email sent to Kennedy Center staff earlier this week by the center's executive director says the building will "remain temporarily closed" pending an ongoing safety assessment.
In the email, sent on Wednesday and obtained by ABC News, the center’s executive director and chief operating officer, Matt Floca, gave no indication that the building will be reopening anytime soon after the President Donald Trump-aligned Kennedy Center board voted last month to close it for renovations after a federal judge's ruling blocked Trump's name from appearing on the outside of the building.
Floca said no one can access the building's grand hallways without permission and a hard hat, pointing to an ongoing "emergency egress assessment" of the building's overhanging soffits -- the underside of the building's distinctive overhanging roof.
Floca said that the ongoing assessment will "determine whether, and under what conditions, the building can safely support occupants and be evacuated," given that certain exits would be blocked during soffit repairs.
"We currently expect the assessment to be completed within the next one to two weeks and will share an update when it is complete, or sooner if the expected timing changes,” Floca wrote in the email. "This is an assessment timeline, not a reopening date. The immediate safety determination is separate from the scope and schedule of the broader renovation program."
Floca said the main corridors of the building -- the Hall of States, Hall of Nations and Grand Foyer -- remain off limits, and that entry "requires express authorization and compliance with all prescribed safety controls, including hard hats and any other required personal protective equipment."
Wearing such safety equipment "does not, by itself, authorize entry," Floca noted.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered an update on the center's closure by Friday, and Floca is expected to provide the judge with the same information he put in his Wednesday email, which was first reported by NBC News.
Floca, in a court filing last week, cited several "documented hazards" within the building as well as corrosion on the soffits around it.
In May, Cooper issued an order blocking the planned two-year closure of the center for renovations, saying the board had not properly weighed the impact of the closure on the center’s finances and programming when it voted on the plan in March.
The Justice Department has since asked the judge to dissolve that order so planned renovations can proceed. However, Cooper has yet to rule on that motion.
Trump has appealed the judge's order that the board cannot re-add Trump's name to the building.
In a TIME magazine interview out Thursday, Trump said he would be willing to save the Kennedy Center, but that it's in "terrible, terrible shape," adding that his administration should be recognized for stepping in to renovate.
He also refused to commit to not demolishing the performing arts center without the consent of Congress.
"I'm not committing to anything," Trump told TIME. "We're going to see how it plays out in court."
