Former President Barack Obama once professed that his presidential center would be a "gift" to Chicago. Animated GIF showing the Obama Presidential Center under construction alongside a static image of former President Barack Obama. (Fox Flight Team; Getty)
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.
Meanwhile, Chicago officials have failed to produce a reconciled total showing how much city taxpayers have committed or how current spending compares to the roughly $175 million discussed when the project was approved.
Fox News Digital submitted records requests and press inquiries to every agency involved in the infrastructure work, including the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), Chicago’s Department of Transportation (CDOT), the Office of Budget and Management (OBM), the Mayor’s Office and Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration.
Not a single office provided a unified, up-to-date accounting of total public infrastructure spending tied to the project. The investigation involved months of FOIA requests, partial disclosures and repeated follow-ups.
No single agency appears to oversee the full scope of the infrastructure work, and neither the state nor the city has assembled a reconciled accounting — a fragmentation that has made the overall public cost difficult to determine.
Instead, agencies provided partial figures, declined to clarify whether city and state totals overlap or insisted that no consolidated total exists.
The Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor (PAC) is reviewing whether multiple agencies complied with state transparency laws following Fox News Digital FOIA requests.
A before-and-after aerial graphic shows the footprint of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park, including the removal of Cornell Drive and construction along Stony Island Avenue. (Fox News)
Taxpayers often fund routine improvements near major civic projects — such as turn lanes, utility hookups or upgraded traffic signals — but the scale of the work surrounding the Obama Presidential Center is far more extensive.
By comparison, other modern presidential libraries required only limited public infrastructure upgrades and did not involve the removal of a major roadway or the wholesale redesign of a historic park’s traffic pattern.
Much of the publicly financed work reshaped the roads and utilities that once ran through Jackson Park.
Cornell Drive — a four-lane roadway that bordered the center’s east side by the park’s lagoon — was permanently removed under the center’s site plan and enveloped by the campus. Traffic that once ran alongside the lagoon has been rerouted farther west, reducing the number of public roads directly adjacent to the complex and creating a more unified campus footprint around the center.
Crews also tore down trees, relocated water mains, sewer lines, and electrical infrastructure and installed new drainage systems tied to the facility’s structural needs as part of the public infrastructure project.
City and state officials say the changes were necessary to manage traffic and visitor demand. Critics argued the redesign altered long-standing park infrastructure to accommodate the foundation’s preferred layout.
What's clear is that without those road closures, reroutes and utility relocations, the project would not function as designed.
The Obama Foundation, which is funding the center’s construction, defended the project in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"The Obama Foundation is investing $850 million in private funding to build the Obama Presidential Center and give back to the community that made the Obamas’ story possible," said Emily Bittner, a spokesperson for the foundation.
"After decades of underinvestment on the South Side of Chicago, the OPC is catalyzing investment, from both public and private sources, to build economic opportunity for residents through jobs, housing, and public spaces and amenities."
Chicago’s 2024–2028 Capital Improvement Program lists $206,078,058 for "Obama Presidential Center & Jackson Park – Infrastructure Improvements," with most funding labeled as state sources. (City of Chicago Capital Improvement Program)
Pritzker’s office gave conflicting responses and ultimately produced no records showing the state’s total infrastructure spending.
Meanwhile, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office did not respond to repeated requests for the city’s total infrastructure spending tied to the project or for how much more Chicago expects to commit.
Without updated reconciliations from both levels of government, taxpayers still have no clear accounting of the financial obligations associated with the center.
What is clear is that Obama’s "gift" to Chicago comes with a hefty public price tag that has grown more complex — and without updated cost projections, the true total cost remains unknown.
Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
You can send tips to michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bureaucrats-hide-true-price-obama-presidential-center-taxpayers-hit-infrastructure-bill