Overview
- Barack Obama officially inaugurated the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park, Chicago, on Thursday, June 18, with Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden attending and President Trump not invited.
- The privately financed project cost about $850 million and sits on roughly eight hectares, with a central eight‑story granite tower widely called the Obamalisk.
- The campus offers a museum, a branch of the public library, gardens, sports courts and community space while the National Archives will retain official presidential records.
- The Obama Foundation says the center should create about 250 direct jobs and nearly one million visitors a year and a University of Chicago analysis projects up to roughly $3 billion in annual city economic activity.
- Neighbors praise new services and jobs but also warn that the influx of visitors and investment could speed gentrification and drive up rents on the South Side.