President Donald Trump has found a new private area of the White House he plans to overhaul.
Trump, 80, rejoiced on Monday after the Supreme Court voted to allow him to continue work on his $400 million vanity ballroom, complete with a military bunker underneath and a “drone port” on the roof. The president said the “Ballroom and Military Complex” will be finished by summer 2028, with his second term finishing in January 2029.
Now, Trump has set his sights on renovating the Harry S. Truman Bowling Alley, which was built in 1947 and paid for by the former president’s friends and supporters from Missouri as an early 63rd birthday gift.
Former President Dwight Eisenhower relocated the alley in 1955 to what is now the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, or EEOB, before former President Bill Clinton renovated it in 1994.
Despite only being available to White House staff and their guests, Politico’s West Wing Playbook has reported that a contract for nearly $253,000 has been granted for lighting work on the VIP bowling alley.
The General Services Administration awarded the sum on July 28, under the auspices of the Executive Office of the President, to Charles Mann Enterprises, founded by the former NFL player. The same contractor received another $8,880 on August 18 for escort services to allow workers into secure areas at the White House for construction purposes, the report noted.
On the same date, the Washington-based construction management company was awarded a separate $878,000 for an “EEOB basement studio project.” Politico said the award listing had no further details about the unnamed project taking place in the same location of the bowling alley.
However, the publication pointed out that while MAGA signed off on the new bowling alley renovations, Republicans instantly savaged a proposed overhaul of the private alley planned by former President Barack Obama in 2014.
Ninety minutes after plans to replace the “irreparable” bowling alley were printed in Time magazine in July 2014, the GSA announced it was canceled.
Time said the cancellation notice did not explain what happened, but “optics” likely played a role. The magazine added, “The lanes are reserved exclusively for the use of White House staff and guests. It was not clear how much the replacement would have cost.”
At the time, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus criticized the Obama administration’s priorities in a tweet, crossing out “the economy” and “secure border” and ticking “Repair WH Bowling Alley.”
The idea of renovating the bowling alley led former Rep. Pat Meehan introduce an amendment to stop funding for the project.
“With our nation $17 trillion in debt, upgrading the president’s private bowling alley shouldn’t be a priority,” Meehan said at the time. “A spiffy new bowling alley may suit the wants for commander in chief, but I think I speak for the taxpayers of the seventh congressional district when I assert that it is certainly not a need.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and GSA for comment. Neither responded to Politico’s request for comment.
The bowling alley was already repaired during Trump’s first administration, with first lady Melania Trump refreshing the area in May 2019.
She “oversaw a restoration of the original wooden lane” while electrical wiring and new mechanics were also updated, as well as a “fresh interior.”
That renovation was funded by the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America.
The lanes are just steps from the West Wing, while former President Richard Nixon built a separate one-lane bowling alley under the North Portico of the White House in 1969.
As well as demolishing the historic East Wing to build his ballroom, Trump has paved over the White House Rose Garden, added a helipad to the South Lawn and turned the Colonnade into a “Presidential Walk of Fame.”
