Trump: Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel ‘construction disaster’

President Trump railed against the increasing renovation cost of the Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel project in Colorado, now ballooning to north of $300 million, and called for an investigation into the “mess.” 

The Cadet Chapel restoration, which started in 2019, is rising in cost and is now expected to be completed in November 2028, prompting a rebuke from the president Thursday night. 

“The United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel has been a CONSTRUCTION DISASTER from the time it was built in 1962. The earlier stories are that it leaked on Day One, and that was the good part. Hundreds of Millions of Dollars have been spent,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. 

“The renovation, which essentially has been going on since the day it was built, is now projected to go on until 2028, costing an additional $90 Million Dollars, bringing the grand total to $335 Million Dollars,” the president said. “This mess should be investigated. Very unfair to the Cadets — A COMPLETE ARCHITECTURAL CATASTROPHE!” 

In August, the Department of Defense awarded JE Dunn Construction Co. a contract worth slightly more than $88 million for renovation work of the chapel, bolstering the total cost from $247 million to almost $335 million.

The Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC), which oversees the project, told KOAA News5 in Colorado Springs, Colo., last month that the new contract was needed to “address unforeseen structural discrepancies and design conflicts discovered during the restoration process.” 

The AFCEC added that the funding ensures the “long-term structural integrity and watertightness of the Cadet Chapel and will resolve issues that have plagued the building since its opening 60 years ago.”

The renovation work done at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs is expected to be completed by Nov. 13, 2028, according to the Pentagon.

The chapel, standing 150 feet tall, first opened in 1962 and was built to “meet the spiritual needs of cadets and staff.” 

“It contains a separate chapel for Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Buddhist faiths, and two all-faiths’ worship rooms,” according to the Air Force Academy. “There are two main levels, with the Protestant nave on the upper level. Catholic, Jewish and Buddhist services take place beneath it.”