Chicago community leaders and longtime residents say the Obama Presidential Center risks washing away the neighborhood’s fabric, warning that proposed luxury developments tied to the project could price out families who have long called the South Side home, according to a report.

They also say the sprawling 19.3-acre site in historic Jackson Park, with its 225-foot-tall concrete museum, has become an eyesore that disrupts the natural landscape and all locals are getting in return for the unsightly structure is soaring rents and higher tax bills. 

“This is a monument to one man’s ego,” Steve Cortes, a longtime Chicagoan and former adviser to President Trump, told 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.”

Community activists warn the Obama Presidential Center is pricing out working-class Chicago residents as property values and rents increase around the development site. Former President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks at a campaign rally with Minnesota Governor and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz at Alliant Center in Madison, Wisconsin, on Oct. 22, 2024. The Obama Presidential Center, right.  ( KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP; Fox News Digital)

“When you got people’s rent going from $850 to $1,300 you’re telling people you don’t want them in the neighborhood,” said Dixon Romeo, an organizer with the Obama Community Benefits Agreement Coalition, told NBC Chicago at a demonstration in April. 

Since ground was broken, construction has progressed at a snail’s pace while costs have ballooned from an original estimate of $330 million to a 2021 foundation projection of $830 million — with no updates since then.

The center, which aims to honor former President Barack Obama’s political career, will also consist of a digital library, conference facilities, a gymnasium, and a regulation-sized NBA court. It will also house the nonprofit Obama Foundation, which is overseeing the center’s development.

The scale of the project and the aesthetics of its centerpiece library have come in for criticism. 

Ken Woodard, an attorney and father of six who grew up in the area, called it a “monstrosity.” “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,” Woodward told the Daily Mail. 

“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.”

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Kyana Butler, an activist with Southside Together who campaigned for a CBA around the Obama Center, shared similar sentiments with the outlet.

“It’s pretty huge and monstrous,” Butler said. “It could have been smaller in scale and cost a lot less money. We’re all worried about the impact on the community.”

Tyrone Muhammad, director of Ex-Cons for Community and Social Change, said, “It’s truly the Tower of Babel.”

“Property taxes are going up so much that the owner of my building is saying she might just walk away.. I don’t blame President Obama for all of this, but the people on his team may not have the best intentions for people in this area,” Muhammed, 2026 Illinois Senate candidate, told the outlet. 

“It’s disingenuous and hypocritical to take park space away from people and then not involve them in what takes its place. The move violates common decency.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Obama Center for comment.

In May, President Donald Trump offered to help out with the development of the center and linked DEI to the construction problems. The project set out “ambitious goals” for certain construction diversity quotas, with its contracts to be allocated to “diverse suppliers,” 35% of which were required to be minority-based enterprises (MBEs).

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (L) joins former U.S. President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama in a ceremonial groundbreaking at the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park on September 28, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. Construction of the center was delayed by a long legal battle undertaken by residents who objected to the center being built in a city park.  ( Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“Look, President Obama, if he wanted help, I’d give him help because I’m a really good builder and I build on time, on budget. He’s building his library in Chicago. It’s a disaster,” Trump said, adding that Obama was paying for prioritizing DEI over meritocracy. 

“And he wanted to be very politically correct and he didn’t use good, hard, tough, mean construction workers that I love Marco,” Trump said, while addressing Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

A $40.75 million racially charged lawsuit filed earlier this year by a minority contractor against the project’s structural engineer shined a spotlight on the DEI-driven aspect of the project. The structural engineers claimed the minority contractor lacked sufficient qualifications and experience to perform its work, resulting in delays.