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White House Seeks 33,000-Square-Foot Underground Visitor Screening Center Beneath Sherman Park

Plans landed on the National Capital Planning Commission’s April 2 agenda for review alongside a final vote on the East Wing replacement.

FILE - The White House is seen Feb. 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Concept photo shows what entrance to proposed underground White House visitor's center would look like.
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Overview

  • The proposed facility would sit under Sherman Park southeast of the White House, directly south of the Treasury building, with the Sherman monument remaining in place.
  • Visitors would enter via a ramp at 15th Street and E Street into a 5,000-square-foot sunken plaza designed to reduce sidewalk congestion.
  • The center would include seven screening lanes and replace the temporary trailers and tents the Secret Service has used since 2005.
  • Project documents indicate construction could start as early as August with an opening targeted for July 2028.
  • The effort is a collaboration of the Executive Office of the President, the U.S. Secret Service and the National Park Service, and the NCPC will consider it at the same meeting set to vote on a 90,000-square-foot East Wing replacement with a ballroom.