Obama Presidential Center Opens in Chicago After $850 Million Build, Displacement Fears and Unpaid Contractor Claims

The Obama Presidential Center opened to the public on Friday, June 19, on Juneteenth. The 19.3-acre campus in Chicago's Jackson Park neighborhood welcomed its first visitors after a star-studded dedication ceremony on Thursday evening. Former Presidents Joe Biden, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton attended the event alongside the Obamas and their daughters, Malia and Sasha.

But the opening arrives amid mounting controversy. The project's cost ballooned from an initial estimate of $350 million to $850 million. Local residents say the development is accelerating gentrification in Chicago's South Side. Several Black-owned subcontractors allege they have not been paid for work on the center.

A Campus, Not a Library

The Obama Presidential Center is designed as a civic hub rather than a traditional presidential library. The eight-story museum tower sits on a campus that includes a new Chicago Public Library branch, an events center called the Forum, a playground, parks, gardens, and a 58,800-square-foot Great Lawn. An athletic facility called Home Court features an NBA regulation basketball court.

"The goal for me has been to create something that is a living monument not to me, but to this idea of American citizenship," former President Barack Obama told TODAY's Jenna Bush Hager in May.

Inside the museum, visitors can sit at a replica of the Oval Office, view exhibits on Michelle Obama's wardrobe, and explore a four-story digital display of speeches and milestones. Illinois residents receive free admission on Tuesdays, according to the Obama Foundation.

The Barack Obama Presidential Library is the first fully digital presidential library. Digital artifacts are available through the National Archives' Digital Research Room, according to CBS Chicago.

Cost Overruns and Unpaid Contractors

The center's construction cost more than doubled from early estimates. The Obama Foundation received about $850 million in private funding, including a donation from Comcast, the parent company of NBC News, according to TODAY.

Multiple subcontractors reported missing payments to the African American Contractors Association. Seven firms approached the association with millions of dollars in outstanding invoices, according to Crain's. Some faced seven-figure debts that threaten their businesses.

One Black-owned concrete and rebar company filed a $40 million federal lawsuit against Thornton Tomasetti, the structural engineering firm managing the project. The lawsuit alleged racial discrimination and false claims. Thornton Tomasetti denied the allegations, according to Fox News.

"I haven't had eight hours or six hours sleep in over a year," one African American subcontractor told Fox News Digital. "I'm cooked emotionally. I feel like an aluminum can that's been thrown in front of a steamroller."

The Obama Foundation said Lakeside Alliance, its primary contractor, was responsible for handling subcontractor payments. Lakeside Alliance stated it was working to resolve outstanding issues.

Displacement Fears on the South Side

Residents in Woodlawn, South Shore, and Hyde Park say the center has accelerated rising housing costs in neighborhoods that have long struggled with affordability. Between 2000 and 2019, 25 percent of Black residents left Chicago, citing school closures, public housing demolition, overpolicing, and lack of resources, according to The Guardian.

In East Woodlawn, single-family and multifamily home prices doubled between 2019 and 2025 to a median of $440,000, according to the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University. That growth far outpaced home price increases across Illinois.

"What we got was a lease saying you have to pay $2,450 a month to stay in your home," a lifelong resident told the Chicago Sun-Times. "My home that they had let fall into disrepair, my home that they had decided was not worth caring for. So we had to move."

Dixon Romeo, executive director of Southside Together, said community groups attempted to negotiate a community benefits agreement with the Obama Foundation when the project was announced in 2016. Those efforts did not result in a signed agreement, according to The Guardian.

Chicago's city council passed legislation last fall to protect displaced tenants. The ordinance gives preference to displaced tenants in housing created on city-owned lots and establishes a grant program for property tax relief. An Illinois Answers Project investigation found that many affordable housing programs in the area have gone unattended and set-aside money has gone unspent.

Public Dollars for Infrastructure

While the Obama Foundation privately funded the center's construction, taxpayers covered infrastructure improvements in the surrounding area. Illinois has spent over $120 million on South Side infrastructure to accommodate the presidential center. The total public cost is estimated to reach around $200 million, according to Fox News.

Pastor Jeffery Campbell of Woodlawn Baptist Church said he has watched his neighborhood change over the past decade. He worked with Barack Obama in the 1990s on community organizing efforts.

"I have watched the neighborhood go from being a gang-infested, you cannot let your children walk down the street area to now being a mixed-racial, mixed-income community that is fast pricing out the people who weathered the storm," Campbell told The Guardian.

The Woodlawn church is building a 46-unit senior affordable housing project on land it owns. The project was approved in 2023 and is months away from breaking ground, according to The Guardian.

A Star-Studded Opening

The Thursday dedication ceremony featured performances by Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Bono, The Edge, Christina Aguilera, Common, Eddie Vedder, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Marc Anthony, and The Roots. Guests included Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Billie Jean King, and Tyler Perry, according to TODAY.

Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett told the crowd that the center was not a monument to one man.

"You're going to have fun, you're going to learn, you are going to see yourself in the stories that we tell," Jarrett said.

Former President Obama urged visitors to focus on ordinary citizens rather than presidential speeches.

"If you come for a day and you don't have time to see everything, I would urge you to skip the clips of my speeches. You have heard them all before. In favor of the stories of those ordinary citizens who helped make that change happen," Obama said.

The center's opening weekend runs through June 21, with daily events hosted by Chicago performer Lizzie G.