(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday joined former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, to formally break ground on the library and community center in Jackson Park that will bear the Obama name.
It was a long-delayed milestone for the Obama Presidential Center, which faced a legal challenge and a federal review over its location on public park land.
Obama assured any remaining critics the project will not detract from Jackson Park's beauty.
“We are also going open this park up to the community, creating a community rec center; another branch of the Chicago Public Library; creating new spaces for folks from the South Side and all over the city to gather and to connect and to learn,” Obama said.
The $830 million project will include digital access to the former president's papers.
It’s expected to take five years to complete.
The presidential center's location on the South Side was a major victory for Chicago as other cities where Obama lived vied for the project. Michelle Obama is from the South Side, and she and Mr. Obama lived there during his career as a state lawmaker.
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