Chicago residents and community leaders are warning that the Obama Presidential Center has become a divisive, costly project that threatens to price families out of their own neighborhood.
It comes after the building was once touted as a revitalizing force for the South Side.
The sprawling 19.3-acre complex in Jackson Park, dominated by a 225-foot concrete tower, has drawn criticism for both its Brutalist design and its impact on the community.
Far from serving as a cultural beacon, longtime residents say the project has brought higher rents, rising property taxes, and the looming threat of gentrification.
“This is a monument to one man’s ego,” said Steve Cortes, a Chicago native and former Trump advisor, in comments to the Daily Mail.
“Look at the Reagan Library. It’s beautiful. This?
“There are almost no windows. What are they hiding?
“And this Brutalist cement look in a city known for its incredible architecture.”
The Obama Foundation secured a 99-year lease on the public land for just $10 in 2018, promising jobs, investment, and stability.
But local alderwoman Jeanette Taylor says the opposite is happening.
“Every time large development comes to communities, they displace the very people they say they want to improve it for. This was no different,” she warned.
Taylor has pushed for affordable housing protections, tenant rights, and rental assistance, winning only limited concessions.
A full Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), which would have guaranteed safeguards against displacement, was never adopted.
“The city of Chicago should have done a Community Benefits Agreement before the first shovel went into the ground, but they didn’t,” she said.
At the heart of local anger is a proposed 250-room luxury hotel tied to the project.
Residents argue the hotel will accelerate rising property values and attract wealthier outsiders, signaling the neighborhood’s shift away from its historically working-class, majority-black roots.
“When you got people’s rent going from $850 to $1,300, you’re telling people you don’t want them in the neighborhood,” said Dixon Romeo, an organizer with the Obama CBA Coalition.
Construction delays and ballooning costs have only fueled frustration.
The Obama Center’s price tag has nearly tripled from $330 million to $830 million, with little transparency since 2021.
Meanwhile, its centerpiece library has been derided as a “monstrosity” and “Tower of Babel” that dwarfs the park’s landscape.
“It looks like this big piece of rock that just landed here out of nowhere,” said Ken Woodward, a father of six who grew up in the area.
“It’s over budget, it’s taking way too long to finish, and it’s going to drive up prices and bring headaches and problems for everyone who lives here.”
In May, President Donald Trump blasted the project’s direction, arguing that Obama’s obsession with diversity quotas has undermined quality construction and efficiency.
Pointing to the project’s reliance on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) mandates, Trump said:
“Look, President Obama, if he wanted help, I’d give him help because I’m a really good builder and I build on time, on budget.
“He’s building his library in Chicago. It’s a disaster.
“He wanted to be very politically correct, and he didn’t use good, hard, tough, mean construction workers that I love,” Trump added, in remarks alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
A $40.75 million lawsuit filed earlier this year highlighted the DEI-driven approach.
A minority contractor accused the project’s structural engineer of racial bias after being deemed unqualified, a dispute that has caused further delays.
For activists like Kyana Butler of Southside Together, the scale of the project itself is the problem.
“It’s pretty huge and monstrous,” she said.
“It could have been smaller in scale and cost a lot less money.
“We’re all worried about the impact on the community.”
Others echo that concern, warning of a cultural erasure in the very neighborhood Obama once called home.
“It feels like a washing away of the neighborhood and culture that used to be here,” Woodward said.
Tyrone Muhammad, director of Ex-Cons for Community and Social Change and a 2026 Illinois Senate candidate, was blunt:
“It’s disingenuous and hypocritical to take park space away from people and then not involve them in what takes its place.
“The move violates common decency.”
For many residents, the Obama Center has gone from a symbol of pride to a flashpoint of frustration.
As costs climb and rents rise, the community is left questioning whether the towering structure in Jackson Park will ultimately stand as a tribute to Obama’s legacy or a monument to displacement.
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