From Fox News: When the Obama Foundation snagged a sweetheart deal to build its beleaguered Obama Presidential Center in a Chicago public park, it pledged to create a $470 million reserve fund to spare taxpayers should the project ever go belly up.
But new tax filings show the foundation has only deposited $1 million into the fund and has not added to it in years, with critics saying the empty promise could potentially leave Chicagoans on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars.
Under its agreement with the city, the foundation was required to create the fund, known as an endowment, to take control of a sprawling 19.3-acre section of Jackson Park — often described as Chicago’s Central Park equivalent — where the complex is now slowly rising.
The foundation ultimately secured the public land for just $10 in 2018 under a 99-year deal.
But when former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama turned the sod at the site in September 2021, just $1 million — or 0.21% of the pledged funds — had been deposited into the endowment, and that figure has remained unchanged ever since.
According to a report by WTTW in February 2021, the Obama Foundation only had to pay $10 for a 99-year lease on 19.3 acres of land… but the city will OWN the center after construction is completed, meaning they are stuck with it. The report reads:
The City Council approved the master agreement, use agreement and environmental agreement between the Obama Foundation and the city in May 2018. The agreement turns over 19.3 acres of city land to the foundation for 99 years for the nominal cost of $10. The city will own the center once it is built, according to the agreement.
Construction costs for the massive project have skyrocketed from the original $330 million estimate to at least $850 million, and concerns are growing that taxpayers will be left stuck with the tab.
To make matters worse, the latest tax return for the Obama Foundation shows unstable revenue, fundraising shortfalls and unfulfilled donor pledges.
Illinois GOP Chair Kathy Salvi blasted the entire project as an “abomination” and said, “It should come as no surprise that the Obama Center is potentially leaving Illinois taxpayers high and dry — it’s an Illinois Democrat tradition.”
Richard Epstein, a University of Chicago law professor emeritus and a New York University law professor, fumed, “They put a million dollars into a $400 million endowment, so it’s endowed. That gets you in jail as a securities matter. An endowment means that you have the money in hand. But they have nothing. They just have the same $1 million that they put in in 2021 as far as I can tell. So, I regard this as something of a public calamity.”
DMLNewsApp founder and podcast host Dennis Michael Lynch discussed the ‘Obama abomination’ in a Facebook Live video on Saturday.
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Obama’s presidential library may come to symbolize more than intended from the administration. The library was supposed to run $330 million and is now over $850 million and growing. The promised endowment to protect the public from debt is virtually empty. https://t.co/B03oaICIsX
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) September 27, 2025
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