Former President Barack Obama dedicated his $850 million presidential center on Chicago's South Side on Thursday evening, drawing every living former president and first lady except Donald and Melania Trump to an invite-only ceremony a day before the campus opens to the public on Juneteenth. Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Stephen Colbert sat among the guests as Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, The Roots and Christina Aguilera performed.
The dedication closes a decade-long construction saga that doubled in cost, drew a discrimination lawsuit and left an unresolved fight over who pays the price for a civic landmark dropped into a working-class Black neighborhood.
What Obama said
Obama told the crowd the center was meant to carry forward "the shared values that make democracy possible," including "a belief in the peaceful transfer of power after the people have spoken in fair and free elections," a line that landed hours after the only absent living former president, Trump, defended his Iran agreement at the Group of Seven summit.
"I found my purpose here, and I fortified my faith here, and I found my community here," Obama said of Chicago.
The campus
Unlike a traditional presidential library, the Jackson Park complex is built as a civic campus, with a museum, a public plaza, a forum, a Chicago Public Library branch, recreation space, gardens and community programming. Exhibits address slavery, the civil rights movement and African American history.
The project was initially estimated at $350 million. After delays and setbacks the bill more than doubled, according to Fox News. The Obama Foundation prioritized local firms for contracting and staffing and billed the center as an "economic engine for South Side residents."
The neighbors
Those pledges have not stopped a parallel story from forming around the building. Chicago set aside $6 million to develop affordable housing nearby and to provide property-tax relief after neighbors told reporters that rents and assessments were climbing. A lifelong resident told the Chicago Sun-Times his rent rose after construction began: "What we got was a lease saying you have to pay $2,450 a month to stay in your home," adding that "our beautiful Black beach neighborhood was no longer ours to enjoy."
A separate Chicago resident who grew up near the site told the Daily Mail the project was "a monstrosity" that was "over budget" and would "drive up prices and bring headaches and problems for everyone who lives here." The same resident called it "a washing away of the neighborhood and culture that used to be here."
The counterpoint
Fox News, citing earlier reporting by its digital unit, said multiple subcontractors remain unpaid, with outstanding invoices ranging from the hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of dollars. A 2025 lawsuit by a Black-owned concrete and rebar subcontractor accused the firm overseeing structural engineering of singling out Black-owned firms for errors, a claim the management company denied, calling some subcontractors "questionably qualified." The Obama Foundation has directed payment questions to its primary contractor, Lakeside Alliance, which says it is working to resolve outstanding invoices.
The center opens to the public Friday morning, on the federal Juneteenth holiday.