Trump says he won't tear down the Kennedy Center arts venue but it needs to be closed for repairs

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday that he won't tear down the Kennedy Center but said it needs to be closed for about two years for work that cannot be done with patrons coming and going for shows and other performances.

Trump's comments, though, suggested that the interior of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will be gutted as part of the process.

''I'm not ripping it down," the Republican president told reporters following an unrelated announcement in the Oval Office. ''I'll be using the steel. So we're using the structure.''

Such a project would mark Trump's latest effort to put his stamp on a cultural institution that Congress designated as a living memorial to President Kennedy, a Democrat, in addition to attempting to leave his mark on Washington through other projects, the most prominent of which is adding a ballroom to the White House.

Trump announced Sunday on social media that he intends to close the performing arts venue on July 4 for about two years, subject to approval by a board led by many of his allies. Trump is also the board's chairman.

The announcement followed a wave of cancellations by leading performers, musicians and groups since the president ousted the previous leadership and his name was added to the building.

Recalling his past career in construction and real estate, Trump said, ''you want to sit with something for a little while before you decide on what you want to do.''

''You can't do any work because people are coming in and out,''

He pegged the cost at about $200 million, including the use of ''the highest-grade marbles, the highest-grade everything.''

''We're fully financed and so we're going to close it and we're going to make it unbelievable, far better than it ever was, and we'll be able to do it properly," Trump said.

He had said last October, also on social media, that the venue would remain open during construction. But on Monday he said that plan was not feasible.

''I was thinking maybe there's a way of doing it simultaneously but there really isn't, and we're going to have something that when it opens it's going to be brand new, beautiful," Trump said.

Trump promised brand new heating and air conditioning systems as part of his latest construction projects. Since he returned to the presidency, the Kennedy Center is one of many Washington landmarks that he has sought to overhaul in his second term.