Former President Barack Obama is giving us an inside look into the Obama Presidential Center. Federal red tape has delayed the center for the last four years, but now the project is set to break ground in August. In announcing the location, Obama said:
“From the beginning, Michelle and I knew there was only one place for the Obama Presidential Center: the South Side of Chicago. It’s where I met Michelle. Just a couple of miles from where she grew up.”
I’m proud to announce that the Obama Presidential Center will officially break ground in 2021. Our hope is that the center will breathe new life into historic Jackson Park while delivering jobs, growth, and much more to the South Side.
Let’s get to work. pic.twitter.com/cOqoPmaLkf
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 3, 2021
The groundbreaking of the $500 million campus will include a museum, Obama Foundation offices, a public library branch, an athletic center and an outdoor recreation space. Its opening initially had been set for this year, but four years of obstacles have stood in the project’s way, at times leaving supporters with dashed hopes as groundbreaking repeatedly was delayed.
Mike Strautmanis, the Obama Foundation’s chief engagement officer, said the hopeful news on Wednesday means the former president can fulfill his promise to continue telling the story of his historic presidency in the place where it all began — the South Side. And it couldn’t come at a more needed time, he said.
Watch Obama’s video message above.
