[FOX] Former President Barack Obama once declared that his presidential center would be a "gift" to Chicago, but taxpayers are on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in hidden costs related to the beleaguered project.A Fox News Digital investigation shows taxpayers are now stuck footing the bill for surging public infrastructure costs required to support the project — and no government agency can provide an accounting of the total public cost, despite months of queries and FOIA requests.
"Illinois Republicans saw this coming a mile away. Now, right on cue, Illinois Democrats are leaving taxpayers high and dry and putting them on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars to support the ugliest building in Chicago," Illinois GOP Chair Kathy Salvi told Fox News Digital. "Illinois’ culture of corruption is humming along with pay-to-play deals to their allies and friends while lying to Illinois voters."
When the project was approved in 2018, Obama pledged to privately fund construction of the expansive 19.3-acre campus in historic Jackson Park through donations to the Obama Foundation — a commitment that remains in place as the center’s construction continues to be privately financed.
But the extensive infrastructure required to make the campus operationally viable — including redesigned roads, stormwater systems, and relocated utilities — is publicly financed, and without those changes, the center could not function.
At the time, projections placed public infrastructure costs at roughly $350 million, split between the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago.
OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER DEPOSITS JUST $1M INTO $470M RESERVE FUND AIMED TO PROTECT TAXPAYERS