WASHINGTON (TNND) — The construction of the Obama Presidential Center, which will house the digital archives from Obama’s two terms, has become a nightmare for residents living in the Southside of Chicago, who say the project is causing their rent prices to go up.

Back in 2018, the Obama Foundation secured a 99-year lease for 19.3 acres of land located within Jackson Park which would serve as home to Obama’s presidential library. At the center of the campus is a 225 foot tall almost windowless concrete tower, which some residents have called to be “the Tower of Babel,” according to the DailyMail.

Set to be open in April 2026, the Obama Presidential Center has garnered sharp criticism from Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor. She has lambasted the project over concerns that its going to lead to gentrification of the neighborhood, pointing out that Chicago did not sign a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA). A CBA is a legal contract which developers sign to ensure that a building project will protect affordable housing, the environment, and lead to local hiring.

“We’re going to see rents go higher and we’re going to see families displaced,” Taylor told the Daily Mail. “Every time large development comes to communities, they displace the very people they say they want to improve it for.”

Already, one resident, Kyana Butler, who is involved in at least three groups lobbying for more protections for the area as a result of the Obama Foundation has said rent prices are already rising.

“Rents are going up fast,” Butler told the DailyMail. “A two-bedroom apartment that used to rent for $800 a month has already jumped to $1,800.”

‘Property taxes are going up so much that the owner of my building is saying she might just walk away,” Butler continued. “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.”

Meanwhile, there are plans in the works for the construction of a 26-story, 250-room luxury hotel right now the street from the Obama Presidential Center. The developer is Allison Davis of Aquinnah Investment Trust, which possesses strong ties to the former president.

In addition to the fear that the Obama Presidential Center will led to gentrification, the project has been called an eye soar, with residents like Ken Woodard telling the DailyMail it “feels like a washing away of the neighborhood and culture that used to be here.”

“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,” Woodard said. ‘It’s a monstrosity.”

The project was originally estimated to cost $330 million but its since ballooned to an estimated $830 cost in 2021. The Center was suppose to open in 2021, but it was pushed back with construction workers on the develop blaming on the Obama Foundation’s adoption of woke DEI mandates and training sessions.

Even President Donald Trump has commented on the delays and struggles of Obama’s presidential library.

“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.

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