WASHINGTON — Doors to the Barack Obama Presidential Center could open as soon as 2020, Obama Foundation chair Marty Nesbitt said Tuesday, though a decision on whether the library and museum will be in Jackson Park or Washington Park is months away.
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle made it official and picked Chicago’s South Side to be the future home of their library, museum and foundation, not a surprise since word leaked out weeks ago.
The center will be associated with — but independent of — the University of Chicago, one of four universities bidding for the project.
U. of Chicago president Robert Zimmer said landing the Obama Center is a “watershed moment for Chicago’s South Side, at a euphoric news conference at the Gary Comer Youth Center, 7200 S. Ingleside. He was joined by Barack Obama Foundation chair Marty Nesbitt and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, among others.
“The Barack Obama Presidential Center will be unlike any that has come before it. It will be the first, truly urban presidential library located in the heart of a great global city simultaneously deeply connected to and engaged with the community and with programs of global impact, Zimmer said.