Construction update July 2023: third floor and climbing

July 3, 2023

We are proud of the progress made on the construction of the Obama Presidential Center. At the Museum Building, the elevator and stairwell concrete work has reached the third floor of the Museum Exhibit Galleries where visitors will get a taste of life in the White House and where they can experience a full-scale replica of the Oval Office as it was during the Obama Administration!

The street level concrete floor slabs for the Forum and Library Buildings are mostly in place and the outside walls of those buildings are currently being framed and poured.

The construction team has installed a hoist to aid the movement of tradespeople and materials up and down the Museum Building. We also expect the City of Chicago to fully close Cornell Drive along the eastern side of the site so that crews can begin work of reclaiming that six-lane road back into green space.

At the end of June, progress towards ambitious workforce and business diversity goals for construction reflected the following:

• 61 percent of construction contracts have been awarded to diverse vendors.

• 31 percent of the workforce hired live in the South and West Sides of Chicago.

• 1 candidate in jobs around the city.