WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve, one of the most powerful financial institutions in the world, is receiving a $2.5 billion renovation involving two of its office buildings.

The project has become an for the embattled chair of the Fed, Jerome Powell, as he weathers nearly incessant personal attacks from President Donald Trump.

Trump has been clear about what he wants from Powell, whom he appointed to lead the central bank in 2017: lower interest rates. Yet the Fed is intended to be an independent agency, and the Supreme Court has signaled that the president can’t fire Powell just because the Fed chair won’t cut rates as fast as Trump wants. But he might be able to do so “for cause,” meaning some kind of malfeasance or neglect. Trump last week suggested that the escalating construction costs could be grounds to fire Powell.

With that threat looming in the background, the Fed decided to open the site of its massive project to a few journalists.

A massive project is revealed

On July 24, Fed staff led a small group of reporters, photographers and television camera operators on an extensive tour of the active construction site that comprises the two 1930s-era buildings. The renovation began in 2022, and the Fed hopes to complete it in the fall of 2027.

By providing journalists — and, by extension, the public — such extensive access, the Fed clearly hopes that greater transparency will help beat back the criticism emanating from the White House. Trump toured the same site several hours after the reporters and then downplayed his threats to fire the Fed chair.

In June, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees the Fed, suggested the rebuild has been extravagant, and includes “rooftop terraces, custom elevators that open into VIP dining rooms, white marble finishes and even a private art collection.”

Fed staff, who requested anonymity to discuss the renovation, showed reporters what they said are future conference rooms that are sometimes used for meals, not “VIP dining rooms.” An elevator is being upgraded to increase accessibility to people with disabilities. And some white marble finishes were added at the insistence of a local commission (including several Trump appointees), the staff noted.

The journalists walked around dumpsters and pipes and evaded front-end loaders, while occasionally straining to hear the explanations of Fed staff over the sounds of drilling, cutting and hammering. Approximately 700 to 800 workers are involved in the project across two shifts each day. Reporters visited the roof of the Fed’s main headquarters, the Marriner S. Eccles building, which has sweeping views of the Lincoln Memorial, the National Mall and parts of downtown Washington.

Fed staff said the roof would not have “rooftop terraces” but instead would include grass and other plants as part of a “green roof” that would reduce cooling costs and stormwater runoff. There had been plans for a seating area, but that aspect was removed because it appeared to be an amenity.

Fed staff breaks down costs

The staff sought to highlight the many costs they said were largely out of their control: blast-resistant windows and other security upgrades, modern electronics and HVAC systems, and historic preservation efforts that led to the use of more marble.

The workers also used plywood extensively to protect stairs and many wall coverings, which Trump singled out as too costly.

“You saw the protection of plywood,” Trump told reporters after his tour. “I mean, that was a lot of money just to protect it for a period of time. I would have done it very gingerly and easily and not have to spend millions of dollars on protection.”

It is clearly a massive project. The Fed has shut down a street that runs between the two buildings. Underneath will be a part of a parking garage, as well as a tunnel connecting the two renovated buildings. After the project the Fed will be able to house more of its 3,000 employees in the two buildings and reduce its rented office space, officials said.

After his own tour, Trump appeared to lower the temperature around the project, at least for now, in a post on his social media platform Truth Social: “The cost overruns are substantial but, on the positive side, our Country is doing very well and can afford just about anything — Even the cost of this building!”

Should Powell lead the charge to cut the Fed’s short-term interest rates soon — economists say it could happen in September — that could appease Trump. And after that, you may never hear about the Fed’s renovation again.

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After seeing a soil-free, living wall system at an eco-roof conference in March, Candace Stoughton, the low-impact development specialist at the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District, started thinking about her office on North Williams Avenue.

“We didn’t have a living wall on our property, and at our office we really want to demonstrate all of the different ways to manage rainfall runoff to keep our streams clean and healthy,” Stoughton said.

EMSWCD, a local government group, works to conserve water and keep soil healthy by offering free workshops, reaching out to the public and funding conservation projects.

And the EMSWCD’s new bike shelter is now its first to sport a living wall system, which was installed last week. The technology, developed by a Sequim, Wash.-based company called , is sold in pre-vegetated sheets that can be glued onto any surface.

The startup’s CEO, Roy Hellwig, also works as an architect. He has many ideas for new applications.

“The neat thing about this product is that as long as it gets air and moisture, you can put it anywhere, at any orientation,” Hellwig said. “It doesn’t even need to be mounted – you could put it in the air like a banner, wrap a column with it (or) wrap an entire building with it.”

The flexible mats also can be installed in more conventional living roofs. Peninsula College last year installed 4,600 square feet of the mats on its arts and science building. The roof is now home to a custom variety of epiphytes – plants and lichens that thrive on the water and nutrients they acquire solely from the air.

Although the epiphytic system has never been installed on a wall before, Hellwig said the customized selection of plant species will adjust well to the bike shelter. The walls are mostly living moss, with lichens and licorice fern sprucing up the arrangement. All of the species are native to Oregon, so they adapt well to the climate and require basically no maintenance.

The epiphytic system costs anywhere between $9 and $18, depending on how many ferns and lichens, which cost more, are incorporated. But production costs are continuing to drop, according to Hellwig. Archiphyte’s next goal is to grow the plants on the sheets, and avoid harvesting and transplanting them.

Now that the living roof at Peninsula College has successfully survived a full weather cycle, Hellwig is seeking to expand promotion of the technology and engage in new commercial opportunities.

“These would be cool on freeways – on those concrete walls for sound control,” he said, adding that the backs of billboards and geodesic domes also would be good candidates. “You can put these on forms that could never handle living surfaces before.”

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