Chicago Faces Rising Cost For Obama Center

Adriana Stone 0 2 min read

Chicago Faces Rising Cost For Obama Center

The Obama Presidential Center was sold to Chicago as mostly privately financed. That promise still stands for the campus itself. But the roads, utilities and stormwater systems needed to make the site work are being paid for by taxpayers.

Originally, public infrastructure tied to the project was estimated at roughly $350 million, split between Illinois and Chicago. Those projections have shifted. State figures reported to media show larger numbers than previously disclosed, and agencies say the total public cost remains unclear.

Here is the Fox News passage cited in local coverage without edits:

“Bureaucrats hide true price of Obama Presidential Center as taxpayers hit with infrastructure bill
Former President Barack Obama once declared that his presidential center would be a \u201cgift\u201d to Chicago, but taxpayers are on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in hidden costs related to the beleaguered project.
A Fox News Digital investigation shows taxpayers are now stuck footing the bill for surging public infrastructure costs required to support the project \u2014 and no government agency can provide an accounting of the total public cost, despite months of queries and FOIA requests…
When the project was approved in 2018, Obama pledged to privately fund construction of the expansive 19.3-acre campus in historic Jackson Park through donations to the Obama Foundation \u2013 a commitment that remains in place as the center\u2019s construction continues to be privately financed.
But the extensive infrastructure required to make the campus operationally viable \u2014 including redesigned roads, stormwater systems, and relocated utilities \u2014 is publicly financed, and without those changes, the center could not function.
At the time, projections placed public infrastructure costs at roughly $350 million, split between the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago.
Eight years later, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) told Fox News Digital that approximately $229 million in infrastructure spending was tied to the site, up from its earlier estimate of roughly $174 million.
The $229 million figure reflects state-managed spending, which may include federal transportation funds routed through IDOT.
The report goes on to state that the agencies which are supposed to be overseeing the accounting on the project are not being upfront with taxpayers and are providing ‘estimates’ of ongoing costs.”

Put simply: the campus construction is privately paid, but supporting infrastructure is not. IDOT recently told reporters about roughly $229 million in state-managed spending — a figure higher than previous estimates. Local groups and city officials still don’t have a single, complete accounting that adds up every public expense tied to the site.

That matters for Chicagoans. Infrastructure work can include road redesigns, sewer and stormwater upgrades, utility relocation, and other upgrades that ripple into city and regional budgets. When those costs grow, taxpayers feel it, through higher local spending needs or redirected funds.

City leaders and state agencies say some spending could come from a mix of state and federal transportation funds. But without a consolidated ledger, it’s hard for residents to see the full picture.

Expect more numbers and debates as construction continues. Officials will be pushed to produce clearer, consolidated cost estimates. Meanwhile, the public bill already appears larger than many were told early on.

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