The White House wants to build an underground center to provide security screening for visitors

WASHINGTON — The White House wants to build an underground center to provide security screening for visitors, the latest step in the Trump administration’s plan to overhaul the grounds.

Plans, including renderings of the 33,000-square-foot (3,066-square-meter) center, were included in the preliminary agenda released on Friday for the April meeting of a federal commission that approves construction on federal land in Washington.

The screening facility would be built beneath Sherman Park, which is located southeast of the White House and directly south of the Treasury building.

The park had for a long time been the place where White House tourists and guests lined up for security checks before they cleared a series of trailer-type structures and walked to the East Wing entrance. President Donald Trump tore down the East Wing last fall to build a ballroom. Visitors currently line up near Lafayette Park, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.

• Add to Google

Behind Trump’s proposed D.C. projects and renovations

04:27

The new screening facility would have seven lanes to ease processing and reduce wait times. Construction could begin as early as August, according to the plans, as the White House said it wants the facility operating by July 2028, six months before Trump’s term ends.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSJudge guts noncitizen voting law used in Trump administration’s election push

FOR SUBSCRIBERSWhite House plans travel for Trump in at least 17 states ahead of the midterms

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe prosecutor at the center of the Cornell maelstrom

FOR SUBSCRIBERSIt’s rarely been harder for people to find new jobs

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

The monument of Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman in the center of Sherman Park would not be removed, according to plans for the project, which is a collaboration of the Executive Office of the President, the U.S. Secret Service and the National Park Service, which manages the White House grounds.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSJudge guts noncitizen voting law used in Trump administration’s election push

FOR SUBSCRIBERSWhite House plans travel for Trump in at least 17 states ahead of the midterms

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe prosecutor at the center of the Cornell maelstrom

FOR SUBSCRIBERSIt’s rarely been harder for people to find new jobs

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

The National Capital Planning Commission, which oversees federal construction, planned to discuss the proposal at its April 2 meeting, according to the tentative agenda circulated Friday.

Also on that meeting agenda is a debate and a final vote on plans by the Republican president to build a 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-meter) building, including a large ballroom, where the East Wing stood.