Work is progressing on the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park, with the main tower now reaching around one-third of its final height. The Obama Foundation is overseeing the development of this complex, set to include three public buildings: a museum, a forum building, and a new library branch.
As the 21st entry in YIMBY’s year-end countdown, the Obama Presidential Center continues to rise in Hyde Park. Planned by The Obama Foundation, the complex will feature three occupiable buildings within its Jackson Park site, including a museum, a forum building, and a new library branch. In addition to these buildings, the center will also include outdoor areas with play spaces, walking paths, sledding hills, and a pedestrian promenade.
With tower cranes now installed and foundation work well underway, the planned Obama Presidential Center is approaching vertical construction in Jackson Park. Planned by The Obama Foundation, the three-building master plan will house a museum revolving around the former president and his legacy, a community center known as The Forum, and a new branch of the Chicago Public Library. There will also be a parking garage directly to the south.
Claiming the 21st spot in YIMBY’s year-end countdown is the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park. The Obama Foundation recently broke ground on its cultural campus centered around the 219-foot-tall museum tower designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects and landscape architecture by Michael van Valkenburg Associates.
The Obama Foundation has formally broken ground on the new Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park. Located between S Stony Island Avenue and S Cornell Drive, from E 59th Street to E 62nd Street, the center will bring a variety of community engaging programs to the South Side upon its 2025 opening. The monumental day was filled with celebration featuring Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Governor JB Pritzker, as well as the namesake Michelle and Barack Obama, bringing the end to a multi-year legal battle between the organization and local residents who have fought to preserve the park’s current design.
