The project has been long delayed by legal challenges and the coronavirus pandemic.<\/b>
\nFormer president Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama marked the beginning of construction on the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago\u2019s South Side Tuesday, more than five years after the controversial project was first announced. The news that Obama\u2019s presidential library would head to Chicago was first announced in 2015, after Obama\u2019s birthplace of Honolulu, Hawaii, was also considered, although Chicago was Obama\u2019s first choice. The $830 million center has proved controversial. In 2018, a group of environmentalists sued to block construction in Jackson Park and argued public land should not be used for a private project, a lawsuit that was later dismissed by a federal judge. Just last month, a second bid to stop the project\u2019s groundbreaking was denied by a judge. Locals have also raised concerns about possible gentrification of surrounding neighborhoods as a result of the project. The center was slated to open this year, but was delayed by the lawsuits and the coronavirus pandemic. The complex will include a museum, the first fully-digitized presidential library, a new Chicago Public Library branch and green space.<\/p>\n