Behind Schedule, Obama Presidential Center Construction Budget grew to 5,024 BTC \ stacker news ~Stacker

USD/BTC =$122,410 Block 917,620 TL:DR

The cost to build former President Barack Obama’s Presidential Center rose to more than $615 million through the end of 2024, according to the latest filing from the Obama Foundation, the non-profit created to build it.

That is more than double the $300-million estimate when the center was first contemplated in 2016. Foundation officials changed the estimate to $500 million when the design was unveiled in 2017, Construction continues by the joint venture contractor, Lakeside Alliance, with the foundation’s most recent all-in project cost estimate—including artifacts, exhibits and finishes—is $850 million, foundation spokeswoman Emily Bittner said.

The project rising in Chicago's Jackson Park has

been plagued by errors in concrete installation that prompted a lawsuit filed by concrete contractor II in One Construction against the project's engineer, Thornton-Tomasetti.

It alleges discrimination against the minority-owned firm based on correspondence from the engineer critiquing its experience and quality of work. Rebar spacing is central to the dispute. A worker was also injured on the site after a fall in January.

The latest filing also continued to detail legal costs in a protracted court battle with local residents about land use in Jackson Park.

The latest construction cost estimate was included as part of the foundation’s annual report on its fundraising and spending, which the organization released in early September. The center, originally set to open this year, now is expected to welcome visitors next spring.

My Thoughts 💭

So much for humility from our public servants. This non profit raising nearly $1B in funds to build a facility is crazy. But this building isn’t even nice looking. It’s so ugly and very expensive. I wonder if this is just a money laundering scheme. I took reinforced concrete design but forgot it all since I never use it. I am definitely curious to know how the contractor screwed up the rebar spacing.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @BlokchainB OP 27 Nov

Obama Presidential Center takes shape after 10 years of delays and construction - Chicago Sun-Times

The Obama Presidential Center has spent a decade on the drawing board and under construction — two years longer than its namesake’s time in the White House.

But now the team of workers, erectors, fabricators and artisans are months away from completing the $800 million center that’s expected to open next spring.

I toured the site with one of its two lead architects, Billie Tsien, of New York-based Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects.

My full critique of the complex will have to wait until the project is done. But enough work has been completed to get a solid look at what will be the most expensive presidential center in U.S. history. Construction costs come to $620 million. The current leader, the George W. Bush Presidential Library, cost $327 million to build, according to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.

Announced in 2015, the center was supposed to open in 2021. But lawsuits and federal reviews — triggered when the Obama Foundation decided to build the center in National Register-listed Jackson Park, designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted — contributed to the delays.

$800M mind blowing figure