The Obama Presidential Center now costs about $1 billion, nearly triple the $350 million budget first announced for it. The Obama Foundation’s latest filing puts the Jackson Park campus about $91 million above its September projection, ENR reported Oct. 20. Trade contractors who are still chasing payment told ENR nobody has told them whether any of that new money will go toward their liens and claims.
The cost history is steep. The budget was $350 million at announcement, $500 million when design wrapped in 2017 and $850 million when the main building opened in June. ENR noted the foundation’s September figure excluded $123 million in publicly financed infrastructure improvements.
What drove the Obama Presidential Center cost increase
The foundation’s filing points to added construction scope, including the 60,000-square-foot Home Court basketball center, plus public art and insurance. Elevate Design Builders Group, a joint venture of BOWA Construction and AECOM Hunt, built the Home Court under a contract separate from the main building. “We anticipate our total cost for constructing the campus is approximately $1 billion,” foundation spokesperson Emily Bittner said, adding that it was all privately raised.
Lakeside Alliance built the main building. It’s a joint venture led by Turner Construction with Powers & Sons Construction, UJAMAA Construction, Brown & Momen and Safeway Construction. Concrete came from the Concrete Collective, a joint venture of W.E. O’Neil Construction, Trice Construction and II in One Concrete.
Subcontractor payment disputes are still open
The payment fight surfaced before opening day. In June, ENR reported that several union trade contractors said they hadn’t been paid for change orders. Adamson Plumbing president Michael Owen said his firm was owed more than $2 million, including close to $450,000 in work it was told to price and proceed on. Subs said Lakeside Alliance gave them the go-ahead and the owner later refused to pay.
The foundation’s position is tidy. It says it has no outstanding disputed charges with Lakeside Alliance and no direct contracts with Lakeside’s subcontractors. “Change orders are very common in similarly scaled projects with a major architect,” its statement said. Lakeside has said closeout “continues long after the doors open” and that it’s committed to resolving outstanding matters.
Both statements can be true at once, and that’s the problem for the trades. A price-and-proceed directive moves the work forward and leaves the money question for later. If the owner and the prime settle up without the sub’s change orders in the number, the sub is left holding a lien. Late money is already the top complaint among small contractors, as a VendorAccess survey found this month. On a project with a famous owner, it’s also a public relations fight few small firms can afford.
What the $1 billion figure means for closeout
A cost that keeps rising after opening usually means closeout is still being negotiated. The foundation hasn’t said how the $91 million breaks down beyond scope, art and insurance. Until it does, the firms with the oldest invoices can’t tell whether any of it is theirs.