CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Federal Court has declared another success for the Obama Foundation amid a legal battle with a parks group.
Non-profit Protect our Parks has been arguing for years that the planned Obama Center has no place in Jackson Park. It filed its first lawsuit against the park district and the city in 2018.
But after a recent decision authorizing construction of the museum and complex, three circuit court judges wrote that they hope this will be "the final installment in the long-running challenge" led by the group.
In an opinion by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals late on April 8, the court ruled the Obama Foundation may continue construction of the Obama Center and that the city acted lawfully in authorizing the building of the presidential center in Jackson Park.
In a statement, the Obama Foundation said it's "eager to bring the Obama Presidential Center to life and this ruling brings us one step closer to doing just that."
The center was expected to open in late 2025, but Obama Presidential Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett told the Chicago Sun-Times in March the grand opening has been moved to 2026.
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