Obama Library Study Sheds Light on Economic Benefits for Chicago’s South Side

Deborah Bayliss | As of Wednesday, June 4, 2014

First Lady, Michelle and President Barack Obama seen here on their wedding day, will decide what items will go on display in the Barack Obama Presidential Library.
First Lady, Michelle and President Barack Obama seen here on their wedding day, will decide what items will go on display in the Barack Obama Presidential Library.

Now might be a good time to start that business venture you’ve been thinking about especially since a study commissioned by the University of Chicago ( U of C) and carried out by an economics research firm concluded that a Barack Obama Presidential Library would provide a “significant economic boon to Chicago’s South side and the city.”

Completed in April by Anderson Economic Group, who estimated the future economic activity due exclusively to the library would not only increase tax revenue for the City of Chicago and the Chicago Public Schools but also create library construction and library operations jobs and also increase profits for hotels, retail, transportation, restaurants and other area businesses.

· The annual economic impact to the City of Chicago would be $220 million, due primarily to an increase in visitors to the city and will create 1,900 permanent new jobs, increasing annual local earnings by $56 million.

· The study estimates that 800,000 visitors will come to the library each year, including 350,000 visitors from outside the Chicago area who would bring additional spending of $31 million on food and retail to the neighborhood near the library, enough to support 30 new restaurants, 11 new retail outlets and a new hotel. Visitors to the city would spend about $110 million in the city that would not be spent otherwise.

· Construction of the library would have a $600 million economic impact on the city and would create 3,280 local jobs for a total of $156 million in earnings over the course of the construction project. The analysis projected that construction alone would cost $380 million—based on costs of other presidential libraries, anticipated features of the Obama Presidential Library, and the Chicago construction market. The construction costs plus other indirect expenditures would provide a total of $600 million in economic impact.

· The library would help the city's fiscal position; tax collections to the city and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) would increase by $5 million annually, including such taxes as property, sales, restaurant, hotel, parking, and car rental.

A wide range of entrepreneurial opportunities exist within the establishment of an Obama Library.

Melinda Kelly, executive director of the Chatham Business Association (CBA), a small business resource center that offers an array of customized services and programs designed to assist businesses with expansion and growth, strategic planning, technical training, workshops, access to capital assistance, marketing and government certification, said regardless of what area of the Obama Library study was focused on the south side, the library would provide, quite a bit of economic opportunity.

“Competition is going to be stiff, which is all the more reason for business owners to be ready (to capitalize on opportunities). Small businesses should definitely be assessing their financials and building their capacity and defining a clear path to get to the next step so they know where they are and are ready to do business. Business owners need to make sure their profit margins are able to move them to the next step.”

William Garth, publisher of the Chicago Citizen Newspaper and CBA chairman said, “We have to teach our youth to be entrepreneurs. The Chatham area will benefit the most in addition to Hyde Park, in terms of an Obama Library.”

Authors of the study noted that an Obama Presidential Library on Chicago’s South Side, as the nation’s first truly urban presidential library, would be more accessible to transportation and therefore more accessible to a larger base of visitors than the other presidential library, especially because of the historical significance of Obama’s presidency”…reasons other presidential libraries cannot claim.”

“Without question, the numbers resulting from the AEG analysis show that the OPL would create a substantial number of new jobs and be a catalyst for economic development—a significant boon to the South Side and to the City of Chicago,” said Susan Sher, senior advisor to the president at the University of Chicago, in a released statement.

A website devoted to questions and answers about the University of Chicago’s goals in terms of the library’s location and other information can be found at www.oplsouthside.uchicago.edu.

President and Mrs. Obama, will to choose the library’s location.

“I strongly believe the Obama Presidential Library would be ideal for one of our neighboring communities on the South Side of Chicago,” said University of Chicago President Robert J. Zimmer in a statement. “Such a location would reflect the personal and professional lives of the Obamas, as well as their commitments to society.”

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