More troubles are being added to Barack Obama’s plate amid reports of marriage difficulties – and a possible divorce – with Michelle.
The latest issue deals with his Obama Presidential Center. One of the main firms building the nation’s first black president’s library is being accused of racial discrimination by one of the project’s black-owned local subcontractors.
It’s been a rough year for Obama, who sat alone at Jimmy Carter’s state funeral and at Donald Trump’s second inauguration after wife Michelle broke with tradition and declined to attend.
Her absence revived rumors that the former first couple has or will split up, rumors they are trying to counteract with a united front.
But now the Obama Presidential Center, his long-planned library and community center in Chicago, could face even more delays over the federal lawsuit.
The center has been a struggle for Obama from the start. His library faced a lawsuit over its proposed location, ballooning costs and construction issues, meaning Obama will set a record for the time elapsed between the end of a presidency and the opening of a namesake museum.
Barack and Michelle Obama have faced rumors of a separation – above the couple at the Democratic National Convention in August 2024
Robert McGee, the owner of the South Side-based firm II in One provided concrete and rebar services for the center.
McGee sued New York-based Thornton Tomasetti in federal court this month, asking to be repaid for about $40 million in construction costs.
He claims that Thornton Tomasetti repeatedly changed the project’s standards and subjected his company to ‘excessively rigorous and unnecessary inspection’ and extensive paperwork that ‘impacted productivity and resulted in millions in losses,’ according to the lawsuit.
And he accused them of ‘racial discrimination.’
‘In a shocking and disheartening turn of events, the African American owner of a local construction company finds himself and his company on the brink of forced closure because of racial discrimination by the structural engineer of record (Thornton Tomasetti) for the construction of The Obama Presidential Center,’ the lawsuit says.
McGee ‘never imagined that the Obama Foundation’s structural engineer would single out a minority-owned subcontractor for unfair criticism and falsely accuse II in One of lacking sufficient qualifications and experience to perform its work, while, in the same letter, stating that the non-minority-owned contractors were sufficiently qualified,’ the lawsuit noted.
Meanwhile, Thornton Tomasetti denied the allegations, sharing in a memo that the construction costs and delays ‘were all unequivocally driven by the underperformance and inexperience’ of the black-owned subcontractor.
In the February 2024 memo attached to the lawsuit, Thornton Tomasetti shared images of cracked slab and exposed rebar, telling Obama Foundation leadership that the Concrete Collective – which McGee’s company was a part of – submitted hundreds of requests to correct its work in the field.
The firm said it spent ‘hundreds of hours reviewing, analyzing, re-designing and responding to corrective work,’ and that contractors caused ‘a multitude of problems in the field.’
McGee, in the lawsuit, slammed back, saying Thornton Tomasetti’s criticism, the suit said, was ‘unfair’ and falsely accused II in One of ‘lacking sufficient qualifications,’
Obama Foundation spokeswoman Emily Bittner told the Chicago Tribune: ‘If the Foundation believed that any vendor was acting with a racist intent, we would immediately take appropriate action. We have no reason to believe that Thornton Tomasetti acted with racist intent.’
Obama pledged to hire local workers, contractors, and firms owned by minorities, women, veterans, LGBTQ individuals and people with disabilities to build his five-acre compound, which he envisioned as being a leadership training institute and community center along with a monument to his presidency.
Thornton Tomasetti has been involved in several high-profile public projects including Hudson Yards in Manhattan, New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome, Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena, Chicago’s Navy Pier, and the visitor facility at the Washington Monument.
The firm was hired by The Barack Obama Foundation to serve as a structural engineer in the construction of the former president’s center.
II in One has worked on projects like Millennium Park, the residential commons on the north campus of the University of Chicago and Kennedy King College.
Obama Presidential Center is reflected in the West Lagoon in Jackson Park in September 2024
Conceptual model of the Obama Presidential Center
The Obama Presidential Center has faced many delays.
It faced legal challenges to its plans to build in Jackson Park, an historic public park.
Obama pushed to have his center – which will be more than a traditional presidential library – built in the historic area, finally winning approval.
Ground was broken in September 2021.
Then, in 2022, construction of the library was halted for several days after a noose was found on site.
The center is being built on Chicago’s South Side near the University of Chicago, where Barack Obama taught constitutional law, and just north of the neighborhood where Michelle Obama grew up.
The roughly $700 million campus is expected to include a museum, Obama Foundation offices, a public library and recreational space.
With the delays its budget has ballooned from its proposed $500 million to over $700 million. Obama raised the funds from private donors and his center will be managed by his foundation.
The eventual opening, previously scheduled for 2021 before the challenges arose, is poised to set a modern record for time between a presidency and completion.
Opening is currently scheduled for 2026.
Ronald Reagan’s library opened just over 1,000 days after Reagan’s last day in office. Bill Clinton’s took 1,398 days. Those of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush averaged 1,653 days.
It is likely the Obama center will open more than 3,100 days since he was president.
Former President Barack Obama, second from left, is joined by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, left, former first lady Michelle Obama, and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot during a groundbreaking ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center in September 2021
The last time Barack and Michelle Obama were seen together was in early mid-December, over a month ago, when they stepped out for dinner in Los Angeles (above)
Jennifer Aniston publicly shut down ‘absolutely untrue’ claims by a US gossip magazine that she and Barack were in a relationship.
Meanwhile, Barack and Michelle Obama seem determined to put on a united front in a bid to combat the rumors surrounding their marriage.
The former president made it clear that he and his wife are a team in a newly shared statement regarding the horrific plane crash in Washington, D.C., on Thursday evening.
While sharing a moving message to the people who lost loved ones in the tragedy, Barack, 63, used terms such as ‘our hearts break’ and ‘Michelle and I send our prayers’ – a subtle shut down of the ongoing speculation that they are headed for divorce.
Michelle, 61, re-shared his emotional post to her own account.
It came one day after the couple released another joint statement announcing that The Obama Presidential Center would be honoring Hadiya Pendleton.
Hadiya, an honor roll student, was murdered in 2013 just days after performing with her majorette squad at the second inauguration of Obama. Michelle Obama, then the first lady, attended her funeral.
The last time the pair was seen together was in early mid-December, over a month ago, when they stepped out for dinner in Los Angeles.
Photos from the evening show Michelle smiling at cameras as she headed out of the popular celebrity hotspot Mother Wolf – while her husband trailed behind, with a more serious expression.
Last October, actress Jennifer Aniston publicly shut down ‘absolutely untrue’ claims by a gossip magazine that she and Barack were in a relationship.
The rumor was compounded by the hosts of a popular pop culture podcast Who? Weekly, who claimed that the Obamas were ‘living separate lives’ while he and Jennifer were having a full-blown affair.
The Friends star told late night host Jimmy Kimmel: ‘I’ve met him once. I know Michelle more than him.’
