Tour inside the Obama Presidential Center before the grand opening
USA TODAY reporter Kinsey Crowley explored the new Barack Obama Presidential Center ahead of its June 19 grand opening.
- President Donald Trump has criticized the newly opened Obama Presidential Center as trash and a disaster.
- The Obama Presidential Center is located in Chicago and opens to the public on June 10th.
President Donald Trump often talks about former President Barack Obama, who left office nearly a decade ago.
President Trump has recently spent considerable time talking about renovating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying President Obama failed to restore the landmark. He made it clear that any future agreement to end the Iran war will be different from President Obama’s nuclear deal. (Obama told Stephen Colbert that he wanted Trump to believe him when he said it was an Obama initiative and that it was a bad deal because it “seems like a pattern.”)
President Trump is also targeting the new Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. On May 30, he posted a fake image of a giant trash can in a parking lot under the heading “Obama Presidential Library.” He also called the Obama Presidential Center a “disaster” in a Truth social post dated Feb. 22, saying it was over budget and behind schedule.
Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett responded to the remarks in an interview with USA TODAY during the center’s June 3 media preview.
“Judge for yourself,” she said. “When our visitors come, they’re going to see a great campus. If (Trump) wants to come and visit in person, we’ll welcome him and give him a tour.”
The White House did not immediately comment on whether Trump was planning a visit.
The center, which took about 10 years and cost $850 million to complete, is scheduled to open to the public this month. Please take a look:
When will the Obama Presidential Center open?
The Obama Presidential Center opens to the public on June 19th. As of June 3, tickets are sold out through the end of August.
Where is the Obama Presidential Center located?
The museum and surrounding campus are located in Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side. It is near the University of Chicago and the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.
How much time and money was spent on the Obama Presidential Center?
In 2015, the Obama Foundation announced that Chicago would be the home of its presidential center. The following year, the focus was on Jackson Park. Jackson Park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, triggering a multi-year review process by the federal government.
A Chicago-based nonprofit organization called Protect Our Parks filed a lawsuit seeking to block construction of the historic site, but the lawsuit was ultimately dismissed. The center also faced concerns from some local community groups that its presence would be at the expense of local residents. The foundation promotes its investment in the community through an estimated 750,000 annual campus visitors and 300 permanent jobs. The Chicago City Council also passed a neighborhood affordable housing ordinance.
When the Obama Foundation finally broke ground in 2021, it estimated the project would cost $500 million. Recent estimates by the Foundation put the price at $850 million.
The center includes a ticketed museum, a civic center with a cafe and restaurant, an athletic center, a branch of the Chicago Public Library, and more.
Contributor: Grace Hawk
Kinsey Crowley is a Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Please contact KCrowley@usatodayco.com. follow her X (Twitter), thread, blue sky and TikTok.
