Chicago to Get Barack Obama Presidential Library/Museum

Deborah Bayliss | As of Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Rumor has it that Chicago will be home of the Barack Obama Presidential Library and Museum thanks to the University of Chicago’s (U of C) winning proposal.

The president and First Lady, Michelle Obama reportedly made the final decision, after also reviewing proposals submitted by The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Columbia University, New York and the University of Hawaii.

Requests for Proposals were issued from the Barack Obama Foundation to the four universities in Sept. last year, seeking details about site location, development and the financial plan to build the structure. (The Barack Obama Foundation was created in January 2014 to lay the groundwork for the President and First Lady's philanthropic activities after the President leaves the White House in January 2017.)

The Chicago Citizen Newspaper contacted U of C Friday morning and was told the university had no comment.

With information still in “rumor” mode, there’s no word yet as to which land site—Jackson Park or Washington Park—was chosen.

Friends of the Parks, however, has been very vocal in their opposition to both of those site proposals and at one point threatened a lawsuit to bar them from consideration.

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In a press release statement issued Friday, the group addresses President Obama saying, “We admire your record as a champion of the environment, including the park system in your home town. Please leave us the double legacy of a world- class library and world-class parks--find a site that does both. In particular, we ask you to consider the tremendous benefits that can be gained by placing the Presidential Library on the 11-acre University of Chicago, City (of Chicago), and CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) site on the northwest corner of 55th and King Dr. This land has been sitting vacant and undeveloped for years and is located directly across the street from Washington Park, one of the most majestic parks in the nation…We hope the builders of the Obama Library follow the lead of both the Kennedy Library in Boston and the Clinton Library in Little Rock and add park space to the city.”

The Barack Obama Foundation last year, reportedly raised between $2.9 million and $6.2 million in donations. According to the Foundation website, visitors to the Obama Library can expect to see exhibits that interprets what Obama’s historic presidency meant to America and the world, along with programming aimed at sparking civic engagement.

Both the Library and Museum are and expected, economic boon for Chicago and the South Side.

A study last year by Anderson Economic Group, estimated the future economic activity due exclusively to the Library would not only increase tax revenue for the City and Chicago Public Schools but also create construction and Library operations jobs as well as increase profits for hotels, retail, transportation, restaurants and other area businesses.

· The annual economic impact to the City of Chicago would be about $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 an estimated $56 million.

· The study estimates that 800,000 visitors will also 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 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 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.

An official announcement is expected in the next couple of weeks.

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