Inside and around the Obama Presidential Center as it rises in Jackson Park

It’s still far too early to tell whether it indeed will be a transformative project, one that will raise Chicago’s profile and change the direction of a big chunk of the South Side for better — or, according to a few critics, for worse.

But after years of planning and raising well over $1 billion, the Obama Presidential Center finally has emerged from the ground as a physical presence in Jackson Park, just across the street from Hyde Park Academy High School and a quick walk from the University of Chicago campus.

Cement trucks roar around the 19.3-acre site and workers — 53% of them minority, according to the center — scurry about. The shell of the combination 425-car parking garage and Chicago Public Library branch is done, all to be topped with a landscaped green roof. The center’s central tower, which will house a digital presidential library and museum filled with memorabilia from Barack and Michelle Obama’s lives and time in Washington, is now several stories in the air and set to be topped off by April.

Overall, the center’s CEO, Valerie Jarrett, says after a tour of the site that construction of the $800 million facility is about halfway done and due to be completed by fall 2025.

“I could not be more happy with the progress we’ve been making,” says Jarrett, who has known the Obamas for decades and served as senior adviser to former President Obama for the eight years of his presidency.

When the facility is done, Jarrett expects the first couple to be here “as often as possible” — and certainly as often as the every month or so they come here from Washington or Hawaii, where they tend to hang out in the winter. “They selected the location for the center because they consider (Chicago) to be their home,” she says.

During the tour, Lori Healey, executive vice president of the sponsoring Obama Foundation and executive project manager of the construction job, emphasized particular points about the construction process. Like the extensive greenery, with artists’ renditions depicting an iconic obelisk of sorts surrounded by trees, a great lawn, and a fruit and vegetable garden. Or the focus on hiring minority contractors and workers to build the monument and continuing education center honoring the nation’s first Black president. Healey also notes a new, already-open athletic center on the edge of the site, one that will make up for athletic fields that were removed during the construction process.

All of that is a nod to elements of the surrounding community who have objected to giving up park space, even for the Obamas, and who have pushed hard for a written agreement guaranteeing certain things will be done for them, such as steps to prevent gentrification of the surrounding neighborhood.

Jarrett makes it clear a written agreement with the neighborhood is not in the cards. “We have a final agreement — with the city,” she says. “We put all of our commitments into that.”

Rising property values are not necessarily a bad thing, she continues, suggesting that local homes owned by Black residents will help them build wealth if the center raises their value. The center owes a responsibility to “the broader community,” one it will serve by helping people learn how the Obamas succeeded and hopefully helping visitors succeed, too, she says.

One thing that’s apparently off the table: rebuilding nearby Jackson Park golf courses into one professional-level facility — one fit for a PGA tournament or a golf-loving ex-president. The Obama Foundation and center are not pursuing that, says Jarrett, adding that she’s heard only “rumors” that someone might like to revive the idea, which was first floated several years ago.

Jarrett does have more to say about the museum and library. Except for special events and shows, only digital copies will be available here, with the original documents kept elsewhere. The museum will have originals, such as some of Michelle Obama’s dresses, and include a replica of the Oval Office. Its director will be Louise Bernard, a specialist in African American history who has worked on projects for the Smithsonian Institution, Yale University and the New York Public Library.

And fundraising? So far, roughly $1.3 billion is in hand. The center wants another $1 billion on top of that, enough to create an endowment sufficient to main the center and a wide variety of programming.

“I grew up just a couple of miles from here,” Jarrett says. To see a development of this magnitude on the South Side, rather than up north or downtown, is “heart-warming.”

Overall, she concludes, “This will be a story-telling endeavor. Hopefully when people leave, they will be inspired to change.”