The Obama Presidential Center is set to finally open on Thursday in Chicago, and while there will be much pomp and circumstance and media adoration, some of those who toiled to build the monument to the former president say they got the shaft.
Construction costs for the dingy gray 8-story concrete eyesore that sits on 19.3 acres in historic Jackson Park on the Windy City’s South Side were reported to be in the neighborhood of $830 million, but reportedly swelled to over a billion dollars.
But as Barack and Michelle Obama, three former presidents, dignitaries, and celebs will be entertained by the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, and Christina Aguilera, multiple subcontractors are in dire straits after working on the project, which touted benefits to local and minority owned businesses.
A Fox News Digital investigation “identified multiple construction firms claiming losses ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to tens of millions” with owners facing financial ruin instead of being rewarded for their contribution to building the temple to the former president’s colossal ego.
MILLIONS OWED: Some minority-owned and local subcontractors who helped build the Obama Presidential Center say they’re owed millions and face financial ruin as the campus prepares to open on Juneteenth.
A Fox News Digital investigation found claimed losses ranging from hundreds… pic.twitter.com/Gq8j4TBrSg
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 17, 2026
One of those interviewed by the outlet is Adamson Plumbing owner Mike Owen, whose business is in the red to the tune of $4 million after years of working on the Obama Presidential Center.
“That is a hole that no subcontractor, small business can survive,” he said.
Owen showed off records that he said showed millions in losses due to work on the project, which “stretched on for years longer than anticipated, forcing his company to absorb millions of dollars in labor and overhead costs as work demands changed and expanded,” Fox News Digital reported.
Owen said that the company’s reserves have been drained by the losses, potentially putting employees at risk of being laid off. The owner also said that he believes that his mental health has suffered as a result of years of trying to recover the money he believes is owed.
“I haven’t had eight hours or six hours sleep in over a year,” he said. “I’m cooked emotionally. I feel like an aluminum can that’s been thrown in front of a steamroller. We’re crushed. And I have to fight for my company and for my people.”
The Obama Foundation passed the buck. Telling Fox News Digital that it paid the project’s construction manager and that Lakeside Alliance “was responsible for hiring, managing, and paying subcontractors working on the center.”
According to Fox News Digital: “Advocates for Black subcontractor firms say those companies have been muzzled by a non-disclosure agreement and a reluctance to speak publicly because of the prestige surrounding the project in Obama’s adopted hometown, a Democratic stronghold, as well as concerns that speaking out could jeopardize payments.”
“They are scared to death about talking about it,” African American Contractors Association president Omar Shareef told the outlet, “I’ve never seen this happen since I’ve been in business.” He founded the group, which is an advocate for black-owned construction businesses, in 1989.
Owen finds the orgy of celebration and the A-list entertainers set to take place on Thursday tough to swallow.
“It was kind of hard seeing some local and national celebrities high-fiving and back-slapping here about the work that’s been done,” he told Fox News Digital. “The backdrop of a coming celebration is kind of hard to swallow for me and for some of my peers at the moment.”
“As for me and my company, I’m at the end of my rope, and I see no other choice than to have to tell my story,” Owen said, telling the outlet that he was hesitant to speak out until now.
“This is not to embarrass anybody, but this is just to make sure that the truth gets told out here of what has happened to the companies that poured their heart and soul into getting this job complete and operational,” he said.
“The promise was that this project was going to uplift minority contractors and uplift the community,” Shareef told Fox News Digital. “What sense is celebrating Juneteenth if our black contractors are not getting their money?”
“Some of the people have put their mortgages up, they’re going to lose their bonding… they are going to lose their relationship with their supplier as well as their bank,” he explained.
“The building does look nice, but the fact doesn’t matter that they’re not paying our damn contractors,” Shareef said.
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