Obama Presidential Center Breaks Ground on Chicago's South Side

"More than four years after leaving office, Barack Obama broke ground on Tuesday on his presidential center on the South Side of Chicago," reports Neil Vigdor.

The Obama Presidential Center has a had a tumultuous journey to the groundbreaking, navigating lawsuits, concerns about displacement of existing residents (among other planning and design controversies), and multiple design iterations.

Now, the final product is in view, and it promises to stand in stark relief compared with previous presidential libraries. Vigdor writes:

In a departure from similar projects recognizing former presidents, the center won’t actually be a presidential library. It won’t house Mr. Obama’s presidential papers, which will be digitized — a decision that has been a sore point for some presidential observers. Mr. Obama envisioned that the center would host concerts, cultural events, lectures, trainings and summits.

The Obama Presidential Center is expected to cost $830 million (up from an earlier estimate of $500 million) and take four years of construction to complete. Vigdor describes the architectural details of the center as follows:

A 235-foot “museum tower” will be the focal point of the center. Words taken from Mr. Obama’s 2015 speech marking the 50th anniversary of the civil rights demonstrations in Selma, Ala., will wrap around the tower’s exterior to create a sunscreen. The center will include a Chicago Public Library branch, a great lawn, a children’s play area, a fruit and vegetable garden, and a teaching kitchen.

Alice Yin provides local coverage of the groundbreaking, which was also attended by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and former First Lady Michelle Obama. Yin explores more of the hyperlocal angle:

Five years ago, then-President Barack Obama chose Chicago’s Jackson Park as the future site of his presidential center, stirring the South Side with the promise of long-overdue transformation and the distinction of being the place where the story of the nation’s first Black president and first lady is told.