Obama Presidential Center set to start welcoming up to 1 million visitors per year

The Obama Presidential Center has begun welcoming some of the first visitors of up to a million per year that are estimated to visit the Jackson Park museum, community center and park area, which will hold a grand opening on Juneteenth.

Following a series of “soft opening” events over the past month, officials gave reporters an early look inside the eight-floor museum Wednesday, where Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett isn’t softening any expectations.

“This is an economic engine, not just for the South Side of Chicago … most certainly here, but it’s going to be an engine for the city and the region,” Jarrett said. “It’s going to be a beacon of hope to the world at a time where I think we can all use a little hope.”

It’s been a long time coming for the $850 million presidential center, a sprawling concept first announced more than a decade ago, centered around the museum that chronicles the rise of Barack Obama from Chicago’s community organizing circles to the White House along with South Side-born first lady Michelle Obama.

The surrounding campus includes a playground, green space, sledding hill, public art installations, public forum, Chicago Public Library branch and an athletic facility, among other attractions in the heart of historic Jackson Park.

“There was a little controversy about building these beautiful buildings in a park,” Jarrett said, paraphrasing years of federal reviews, lawsuits filed by parkland advocates and neighborhood activists demanding community benefits agreements.

“It’s important for you to know that because we tore out Cornell Drive, which separated us from the Museum of Science and Industry, we have 3.7 additional acres of parkland that wasn’t here before,” Jarrett said, underscoring the breathtaking vistas of the park and city from the museum’s eighth floor. “That view really tells the story about Chicago.”

Longtime City Hall leader and incoming Obama Presidential Center executive vice president John Roberson touted 5,000 construction jobs created through the privately funded institution, the most expensive presidential center ever built, with a lengthy list of top donors including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Airbnb founder Brian Chesky.

“It’s this level of investment that has been lacking on the South and West sides for way too long. And the president and Mrs. Obama understood what bringing that level of investment would mean to our city,” Roberson said.

Here’s a look inside the museum: