The Trump administration continues to eliminate wasted government funds, and the site of the Obama Presidential Library is among the latest federal leases terminated.
Not to be confused with the Obama Presidential Center on the South Side of Chicago, the library is located in the northwest part of the city at the Hoffman Estates site. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) terminated nearly 750 federal leases, which will reportedly save taxpayers $468 million.
Notably, the Obama Presidential Library, which is run by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), was set to move to a new location this year anyway, so the DOGE lease termination may not affect its day-to-day operations.
The Chicago Tribune noted that the lease cancellation “may have little impact. Federal officials who run the temporary facility said in mid-2024 that they planned to exit the lease and move the library to a permanent, out-of-state location this year.”
Hoffman Estates Medical Development LLC bought the building in 2011, and NARA began to lease the property in 2016 at an annual cost of $1.4 million, according to information from the General Services Administration cited by the Chicago Tribune.
“The Barack Obama Presidential Library is in an unassuming building near the intersection of Golf and Barrington roads, surrounded by shopping malls and is not open to the public,” the paper noted.
“NARA uses it as temporary storage for tens of millions of documents, classified records and more than 35,000 artifacts and gifts accumulated by the Obama family during the eight years Obama held office. Family keepsakes include a jeweled sword from Saudi Arabia, dresses worn by Michelle Obama at inaugural ceremonies, and a baseball signed by the 2010 San Francisco Giants,” the paper reported.
The records held at the Hoffman Estates library have been in the process of being digitized in anticipation of opening the nation’s first digital presidential library in 2025.
Artifacts and hard copies of millions of documents currently at the facility are expected to be sent to “a permanent site in College Park, Maryland, and occasionally lent to the Obama Presidential Center,” according to the Tribune.
A spokesperson for NARA indicated to the outlet that the work is expected to be completed by “late fiscal year 2025,” which ends September 30.
Since there has been much attention on the Obama Presidential Center under construction, many on social media expressed surprise at the existence of a library.
Finally-an, did anyone know this existed?, “Obama library” located in the Illinois burbs is being closed & people running it said they were moving out of state “anyway”: pic.twitter.com/tG6vdGQf0h
— D. Turner-Morrison (@TurnerMorrison) March 5, 2025
Meanwhile, the $830 million Obama Presidential Center, run by the private Barack Obama Foundation, is set to open sometime in 2026 after years plagued by skyrocketing costs, delays, and construction problems.
Isn’t Barack Obama’s DEI Presidential Library a failure like any DEI project? pic.twitter.com/tjHIwahRY0
— • ᗰISᑕᕼIᗴᖴ ™ • (@4Mischief) February 24, 2025
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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