Saransk swells from building boom of World Cup proportions

Valerie Fayzullina expresses a hopeful sense of wonder as she stands near a wire sculpture of a soccer player, in the shadows of eight new apartment high-rises and a freshly finished stadium that will host stars as big as Cristiano Ronaldo this month.

Fans take pictures in front of the stadium prior to the group H match between Colombia and Japan at the 2018 soccer World Cup in the Mordavia Arena in Saransk, Russia, Tuesday, June 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Like many Saransk residents, Fayzullina was incredulous upon learning the World Cup was coming to her quiet, obscure community 400 miles east of Moscow in rolling hills where white puffs of pollen from poplar trees create the illusion of summer snow flurries.

In this picture taken Friday, June 15, 2018, a children playground is backdropped by the Mordovia Arena during the 2018 soccer World Cup in Saransk, Russia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

She's delighted by the transformation of her once anonymous town into a more urbane-looking locale and wants to believe that all the work done in the past half-decade will have a lasting effect on the city of 300,000.

"Knowing how my city was — like, the state of my city back then — I'm like, 'We're not ready,'" Fayzullina, who'll soon turn 24, said in English, recalling the announcement in 2012 that Saransk would be among 11 Russian cities hosting soccer's global tournament. "I was quite skeptical."

A police van drives near brightly colored apartment buildings, near the Mordavia Arena, one of the stadiums where matches of the 2018 soccer World Cup are played, in Saransk, Russia, Tuesday, June 19, 2018.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Ultimately, the new buildings forming the Tavla complex next to the stadium are supposed to house permanent residents in around 900 apartments. They are expected to sell for about $72 per square foot, said development general manager Igor Sinichkin. But first, the buildings are being used temporarily as hotels or short-term rentals for those in Saransk for the World Cup. Most of the guests work in security; air traffic control and customs for the unusual spike in inbound flights; international media; or with FIFA. Some fans stay there, too.

In this picture taken Friday, June 15, 2018, new buildings are pictured near the Mordovia Arena during the 2018 soccer World Cup in Saransk, Russia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

"If you had seen the city, it was so small. Like this whole place, all this area, was rural," Fayzullina said, sweep her arms toward the land across the Insar River from the historical center of town. "And now, like six years later, we have all these huge buildings."

Saransk is the least populated — and arguably least known — 2018 World Cup host city. There was virtually no tourist industry before the World Cup, and if not for the four temporary hotels in the Tavla complex, there would be a room shortage around match days.

In this picture taken Friday, June 15, 2018, a sculpture of a soccer player made with electric wires stands in front of new buildings near the Mordovia Arena during the 2018 soccer World Cup in Saransk, Russia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

The development cost about $80 million, said project manager Katerina Yakushkina. The exterior facades of the 14- to 16-floor structures have a modern look, with jutting angles highlighted by contrasting colors schemes of orange, red, green, yellow, white and metallic gray. A new school and shopping center have been built in conjunction with the development. Parents already take their children to playgrounds there. There are plans for a water park.

In this picture taken Friday, June 15, 2018, new buildings are backdropped by the the Mordovia Arena during the 2018 soccer World Cup in Saransk, Russia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Asked whether she thought people around the world had heard of Saransk before it became a World Cup host, Yakushkina quipped, "Even in Moscow, nobody knew where Saransk was."

"Hedgehogs and elk were walking around in the streets," the 35-year-old said. "Now it's an advanced kind of city.

"Basically, this will become a new kind of downtown."

In the past half-decade, hundreds of millions of dollars have gone into building up Saransk, which has no history of industry, but does have a university and a legacy of producing world-class athletes in track and field, boxing and wrestling. Movie buffs also might recall actor Gerard Depardieu settled here — legally speaking — when he changed citizenship to avoid higher taxes in his native France.

In this picture taken Friday, June 15, 2018 a couple push a baby trolley past new buildings near the Mordovia Arena during the 2018 soccer World Cup in Saransk, Russia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

In addition to the stadium and buildings nearby, there are also some new hotels, including a Sheraton, closer to the city center, which emanates from the gold-domed, hilltop Cathedral of St. Theodore Ushakov. Numerous buildings have been renovated, or fixed up cosmetically, to help Saransk look polished for its international debut.

In this picture taken Friday, June 15, 2018, a woman stands on a balcony of s new building near the Mordovia Arena during the 2018 soccer World Cup in Saransk, Russia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

A study by Moody's has concluded the Russian region of Mordovia, of which Saransk is the capital, benefited more from World Cup-related investment, proportionally speaking, than any other host region.

The 44,000-seat Mordovia Arena, which is expected to be reduced in size after the tournament to accommodate a local second-division club, cost about $250 million. The new airport cost a reported $44 million and the train station $6.3 million.

In this picture taken Friday, June 15, 2018, a children playground and new buildings are backdropped by the Mordovia Arena during the 2018 soccer World Cup in Saransk, Russia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

The beneficiaries include people like Alexander Averyanov, a 30-year-old with a thin frame, light brown hair and the confidence to speak his mind — even in English. He landed two management jobs in new hotel restaurants — one in the city center and another next to the stadium.

But Averyanov is anxious about what will happen after Panama plays Tunisia in the final World Cup game here on June 28.

In this picture taken Friday, June 15, 2018, a man pushes a baby trolley as walks past the Mordovia Arena during the 2018 soccer World Cup in Saransk, Russia.  (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

"The World Cup changed the city a lot," said Averyanov. "Nobody knows for real what will be after.

"Almost all jobs are temporary. Pay didn't grow a lot. The infrastructure needs a lot of money for maintenance. I'm a bit pessimistic — because it is Russia."

Less pessimistic is Sinichkin as he sits in a new restaurant where the perimeter of the dining room is lined with plush booths that look more like sofas. During World Cup games played elsewhere, the restaurant fills with fans watching the action on an expansive wall-mounted TV. The restaurant is slated to remain when the hotel closes for the conversion to permanent residences.

In this picture taken Friday, June 15, 2018, a huge soccer ball sits over a column adorned with the writing of Sransk near the Mordovia Arena during the 2018 soccer World Cup in Saransk, Russia. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

"This is a unique project in Russia," Sinichkin said. "This will be the World Cup legacy. It will be for ordinary people and improve the welfare of the city.

"The most important thing," he added, perhaps only half joking, "is that Cristiano Ronaldo will be here."

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom won final approval from a key agency on Thursday, despite a federal judge recently ordering a halt to construction unless Congress allows what would be the biggest structural change to the American landmark in more than 70 years.

The 12-member National Capital Planning Commission, the agency tasked with approving construction on federal property in the Washington region, took the vote because U.S. District Judge Richard Leon’s ruling — which came two days earlier — affects construction activities but not the planning process, said the commission's Trump-appointed chair, Will Scharf.

A vote of 8-1, with two commissioners voting present and one absent, allowed the plan to move forward.

Despite the agency’s approval, the judge’s ruling and a legal fight over the ballroom could stall progress on a legacy project that Trump is racing to see completed before the end of his term in early 2029. It’s among a series of changes the Republican president is planning for the nation’s capital to leave his lasting imprint while he’s still in office.

Before the vote, Scharf, a top White House aide, noted that Leon's order has been stayed for two weeks as the administration seeks an appeal. He said, as he understood the decision, it “really does not impact our action here today.”

Reading from notes, Scharf also delivered an impassioned defense of the project that reviewed the full history of changes and additions to the White House that were criticized when they were made but have become beloved with the passage of time. He spoke about the addition of the north and south porticos and the balcony added by President Harry Truman.

Scharf suggested that Trump’s proposed ballroom will similarly come to be viewed as a wise addition — despite drawing contemporary opposition from some members of the public and government officials.

“I believe that in time this ballroom will be considered every bit as much of a national treasure as the other key components of the White House,” Scharf said.

Scharf also said the project has been viewed negatively because of opposition to Trump, instead of the merits, saying, “I feel that we’ve been unfairly slighted in the press and otherwise for the way we’ve gone about reviewing this particular project.”

The vote by the commission, which includes three members Trump gets to appoint, had initially been scheduled for March but was postponed to Thursday because so many people signed up to comment at the commission’s meeting last month. The comments were overwhelmingly in opposition to the ballroom.

The lone “no” vote was cast by Phil Mendelson, a Democrat who chairs the Council of the District of Columbia. Linda Argo and Arrington Dixon, the two commissioners appointed by Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, voted present.

Mendelson criticized the design of the ballroom addition and how fast it was approved.

“It’s just too large,” he said.

Criticism also came from Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization. One of its attorneys, Jon Golinger, said the commission had discounted opposition from city officials and thousands of people who commented against the project, and ignored the judge's ruling. Several commissioners, including Scharf, had said they took the public feedback seriously.

“This approval is illegitimate and this vote is a joke," Golinger said.

Trump, in a statement after the vote, thanked the commissioners and said he was honored.

“When completed, it will be the Greatest and Most Beautiful Ballroom of its kind anywhere in the World, and a fabulous complement to our Beautiful and Storied White House!” the president said on social media.

Before voting, the commission considered design changes to the 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom addition that the president announced aboard Air Force One on Sunday, as he flew back to Washington from a weekend at his Florida home.

He removed a large staircase on the south side of the building and added an uncovered porch to the southwest side. Architects and other critics of the project had panned the staircase as too large and basically useless since there was no way to enter the ballroom at the top.

A White House official said the president had considered comments from the National Capital Planning Commission and another oversight entity, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which approved the project earlier this year, as well as members of the public.

The official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the ballroom design and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said additional “refinements” had been made to the exterior.

The ballroom, now estimated to cost $400 million, has expanded in scope and price tag since Trump first announced the project last summer, citing a need for space other than a tent on the lawn to host important guests. Trump demolished the East Wing in October with little warning, and site preparation and underground work have been underway since then.

Two other Trump-appointed commissioners, Stuart Levenbach and James Blair, voted for the project.

Levenbach, who serves as vice chairman and is the federal government’s chief statistician, said the White House is currently “not suited” to accommodate large numbers of guests and the addition will improve the “utility” of the compound.

He said tunnels and other structures underground at the White House made it impossible to place many features of the ballroom there, too, as some have suggested might be possible. Levenbach said the addition is a “multipurpose facility,” noting that, in addition to a ballroom, it will also have offices for the first lady, kitchen space and a theater.

“This is not an expansion for its own sake,” Levenbach said.

Blair, a deputy to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, said visitors and guests of the president deserve a “better experience."

Scharf and Blair also said Trump will get “very limited use” of the ballroom before his term ends.

Trump went ahead with the project before seeking input from the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, which he reconstituted with allies and supporters.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a private nonprofit organization, sued after Trump demolished the East Wing last fall to build the ballroom addition — a space nearly twice as big as the mansion itself.

Trump says it will be paid for with donations from wealthy people and corporations, including him, though public dollars are paying for underground bunkers and security upgrades.

The trust sought a temporary halt to construction until Trump presented the project to both commissions and Congress for approval. Leon agreed but said that his order would take effect in two weeks and that construction related to security would be allowed.

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Work continues on the construction of the ballroom at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

President Donald Trump holds a rendering of the proposed new East Wing of the White House as he speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Work continues on the construction of the ballroom at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

President Donald Trump holds a rendering of the proposed new East Wing of the White House as he speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)