Price Tag Of Obama’s Presidential Center Reportedly Doubles Original Estimate

The cost of building former President Barack Obama’s presidential center in Chicago has ballooned to an estimated $850 million — nearly triple the original $300 million estimate pitched when the project was first announced.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Obama Foundation has already spent more than $615 million on the center, which is under construction in Jackson Park on the city’s South Side.

The projected price tag has steadily climbed over the years. In 2017, when the design was unveiled, the budget was pegged at $500 million. By 2021, construction costs alone had jumped to $700 million, with the total cost reaching $830 million. Foundation officials now say the final tally will hit $850 million.

Despite the spiraling costs, the Obama Foundation reported its net assets topped $1 billion for the first time after raising $195 million last year from nearly 92,000 donors.

When the deal was struck to build the project, the foundation pledged to set aside $470 million in a reserve fund to shield taxpayers. But recent tax filings show only $1 million has been deposited so far, with no new contributions in recent years.

Illinois GOP Chair Kathy Salvi blasted the center as a taxpayer boondoggle. “It should come as no surprise that the Obama Center is potentially leaving Illinois taxpayers high and dry — it’s an Illinois Democrat tradition,” Salvi told Fox News Digital. “Democrats in this state, when not going to prison for corruption, treat taxpayers like a personal piggy bank giving sweetheart deals to their political benefactors.”

The Obama Presidential Center was initially slated to open this year but is now scheduled to open next spring, the Tribune reported.