After 5 years of delay, work began at Jackson Park to make way for Obama Presidential Centre
Finally, after five years the work has begun for Obama Presidential Centre in the historic south side of Chicago. On Wednesday the former President Obama tweeted on the same topic saying how “thrilled” he and his wife Michelle were as the work began.
Michelle and I are thrilled to be one step closer to bringing the Obama Presidential Center to the South Side of Chicago. We hope it will help lift up the South Side and breathe new life into Jackson Park and the surrounding communities. pic.twitter.com/IItJNFyoAp
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 14, 2021
It was scheduled to open for the public in 2021 but due to the lawsuits – which are yet to fully resolved and the federal review had an objection that the four-building project will have an impact on the federally protected park but it was concluded in February.
Formal groundbreaking for the center is expected by the fall but for now, the city crew is busy with moving utility lines and closing roads through Jackson Park to make way for the center. It is estimated that it will take nearly 4 years for construction to complete.
In exchange for widening South Stony Island Avenue and the northern portion of Midway Plaisance Drive, the south portion of Midway Plaisance Drive and Cornell Drive will be closed.
The $174 million state budget approved in May 2018, includes covering the cost of closing the roads through Jackson Park for the centre.
Obama has said he hoped the centre would waive off the difficulties suffered by the city in 2020, especially the economic catastrophe due to pandemic.
It is expected that the proposed center would include a four-building campus, branch library, plaza, play area, underground parking facility, pedestrian and bicycle paths and landscaped open space in Jackson Park. In all these glittery things, it has been discovered by the federal review the Obama Presidential Center would diminish “the historic property’s overall integrity” by altering historic, internal spatial divisions that were designed as a single entity.
That required Obama to revise his plans to soften those adverse impacts on Jackson Park, the Midway Plaisance, and the city’s Park Boulevard System. The plans were later revised and now are compliant with the National Historic Prevention Act and Environmental Policy Act.
Foundation officials have reserved 35% of construction job for the communities residing in the nearby localities which will include Woodlawn, Austin and Englewood. It is expected that the centre will create around 5,000 jobs.
The Obama Foundation has assured that they will keep half of the project for the firms owned by females, black and Latino Chicagoans, which is nearly double the city’s goal.
