The Chicago City Council has approved agreements between the City of Chicago and the Obama Foundation related to the Obama Presidential Center and Museum.
The ordinance passed includes a master agreement, use agreement, and other agreements between the foundation and the city, which together outline how the foundation and the city will work together to ensure the center is providing substantial public benefits.
The center will be located in Jackson Park on the South Side of Chicago, near the University of Chicago campus. The university provides planning, support, engagement and programming. Included within the center’s plans is a new branch for the Chicago Public Library.
In addition, the council also passed a related ordinance authorizing road and pedestrian safety improvements that will reconnect the center’s site in historic Jackson Park.
Under the use agreement, the foundation will occupy 19.3 acres of the 250-acre park to build the center, whose buildings will then be deeded to the city and owned by the people of Chicago.
The center is also undergoing a federal review process under the National Environmental Policy Act and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act given Jackson Park’s historic designation, as well as under the Federal-Aid Highway Act given the road improvement work.
