(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Former President Barack Obama seems unable to catch a break.
Weeks after being referred for criminal investigation by DNI Tulsi Gabbard, Obama’s presidential center is now under scrutiny from Chicago residents, who are calling the construction a “monstrosity” or a giant “rock.”
The building is currently being constructed in Chicago’s historic Jackson Park, spanning 19.3 acres and rising 225 feet tall. The center features a Brutalist cement design with few windows.
“This is a monument to one man’s ego,” said former Trump advisor and Chicagoan Steve Cortes in remarks to the Daily Mail. “Look at the Reagan Library. It’s beautiful. This? There are almost no windows. What are they hiding? And this Brutalist cement look in a city known for its incredible architecture.”
Local politician Jeanette Taylor said she feared the building would displace residents and drive up prices.
“Every time large development comes to communities, they displace the very people they say they want to improve it for,” she said. “This was no different, and we’re living what is actually happening. We’re going to see rents go higher and we’re going to see families displaced.”
Resident and lawyer Ken Woodward slammed the building’s appearance as out of place.
“It looks like this big piece of rock that just landed here out of nowhere in what used to be a really nice landscape of trees and flowers,” Woodard told the Mail. “It’s a monstrosity.”
The Obama Center is to Chicago what Obama's two terms were for America.
A complete catastrophe.
— Jen (@IlliniJen) August 19, 2025
He added, “It’s over budget, it’s taking way too long to finish and it’s going to drive up prices and bring headaches and problems for everyone who lives here. It feels like a washing away of the neighborhood and culture that used to be here.”
South Side native and activist Tyrone Muhammad reportedly began sounding the alarm about the presidential center in 2020, calling it the “Tower of Babel.”
“There’s a lot of babbling going on with the Obama Center that never seems to get to anywhere. It’s disconnected from the community it says it wants to serve. There’s this ongoing battle around it that involves policies that never serve or effect change for the community,” he added.
A spokesperson for the Obama Center ignored pointed questions about the activists’ criticism, telling the Mail instead:
“Sitting on nearly 20 acres in Jackson Park, the Obama Presidential Center will be a tremendous global destination and public community asset, with a playground, restaurant, branch of the Chicago Public Library, fruit and vegetable garden and sledding hill to name a few elements. We are proud that members of the community played key roles in building the center, and we are looking forward to hiring local residents for hundreds of good jobs when the Center opens.”
