While Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, and John Legend prepared to headline a star-studded celebration at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, construction firms that built the 19.3-acre campus told a very different story, one of unpaid bills, bankruptcy filings, and financial losses they say run into the tens of millions of dollars.
The center's grand opening on Friday caps years of construction on Chicago's South Side. But Fox News Digital reported that multiple subcontractors say they remain deep in the red, with some claiming the project stretched years beyond its original timeline and left them absorbing costs they were never reimbursed for.
The gap between the celebration and the claims is hard to miss. A project billed as a lasting legacy to former President Barack Obama, and promoted as an engine of opportunity for minority-owned businesses, now faces allegations that some of those very businesses were financially gutted by the experience.
Mike Owen, president and owner of Adamson Plumbing, said his company is nearly $4 million in the red after years of work on the project. Owen described unnecessary rework, scheduling disruptions, and more than 100 change-order requests that left Adamson absorbing millions in additional costs. He said the project stretched on for years longer than anticipated, forcing his company to carry labor and overhead expenses it could not recover.
One example Owen cited: Adamson was forced to redo portions of the center's stormwater system at a cost of nearly $900,000, expenses he believes should have been reimbursed. Correspondence reviewed by Fox News Digital showed that Chicago's chief plumbing inspector later wrote that Adamson's original method complied with city code requirements.
Owen stood outside the center on a recent Friday afternoon, reviewing spreadsheets and financial records. He told Fox News Digital:
"That is a hole that no subcontractor, small business can survive. I haven't had eight hours or six hours sleep in over a year. 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."
Owen said the losses have drained company reserves, created uncertainty for employees, and could ultimately force layoffs. He has not filed a lawsuit but said his company has been trying to recover money it says it is owed from parties involved in the project.
The backdrop of the opening celebration made the situation harder to bear, Owen said:
"It was kind of hard seeing some local and national celebrities high-fiving and back-slapping here about the work that's been done. The backdrop of a coming celebration is kind of hard to swallow for me and for some of my peers at the moment."
Adamson Plumbing is not alone. At least two minority-owned subcontractors that worked on the Obama Presidential Center later sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2024, Fox News Digital reported based on documents it reviewed.
Glass Management Services, which supplied glass for the project, filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2024 and later told the bankruptcy court it was preparing litigation related to the Obama Presidential Center that it said could yield millions of dollars in damages. Vision Painting & Decorating Services also filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2024 while listing the Obama Presidential Center contract in its bankruptcy schedules. Court filings reviewed by Fox News Digital did not state whether Vision Painting viewed the project as contributing to its financial difficulties.
The filings do not establish that the Obama Presidential Center caused those financial difficulties. But the pattern is notable, and it extends beyond the bankruptcy docket.
An unnamed subcontractor owner filed a mechanic's lien, a legal tool companies use when they say they are owed money for completed construction work, for around $145,000. Documents show that amount was eventually paid. But the same subcontractor told Fox News Digital his company was still down $200,000 on the project overall. Two additional companies filed mechanic's liens for approximately $400,000 and $75,000 respectively. Fox News Digital was unable to contact those company officials, and it is not known whether those liens have been paid.
The Obama Foundation's reserve fund, originally promoted as a $470 million financial safeguard intended to help protect taxpayers if the project encountered financial trouble, remains funded at roughly $1 million, Fox News Digital previously reported.
The largest publicly known dispute tied to the project involves the Concrete Collective, a joint venture that included II in One Concrete, a Black-owned firm, along with Trice Construction and W.E. O'Neil Construction. The Concrete Collective was responsible for major structural concrete work across the campus and filed claims exceeding $40 million, alleging it incurred substantial additional costs during construction.
The case docket involving II in One Concrete reflects that the case remains pending. A figure identified as McGee and connected to II in One Concrete alleged that the project's structural engineer unfairly blamed his company for delays and cost overruns, and that the criticism contributed to rejection of Concrete Collective's compensation claims.
Overall construction costs were reported at $830 million in 2021 and have likely climbed past the $1 billion mark. Lakeside Alliance, the joint venture that served as construction manager, said approximately 475 contractors worked on the project. One minority-owned subcontractor owner told Fox News Digital his company was up to $2.5 million in the red. He said the contract was originally expected to last 24 months but ultimately stretched to about five years.
That subcontractor, who has been in the business for 35 years, asked not to be named. He is not the only one staying quiet.
Omar Shareef, president of the African American Contractors Association, which he founded in 1989, said several Black subcontractor owners began privately approaching him about six months ago, claiming significant losses tied directly to the project. Speaking to Fox News Digital outside the center on a recent Saturday, Shareef described a pattern of fear:
"They are scared to death about talking about it. I've never seen this happen since I've been in business."
Shareef did not mince words about the contrast between the project's promises and its outcomes. He said his group planned to stage a protest outside the center on Thursday at 10 a.m. CT, the same day as the pre-opening celebration.
"The building does look nice, but the fact doesn't matter that they're not paying our d*** contractors."
Shareef said the stakes for the affected firms go beyond the immediate losses. He warned that bonding relationships, bank relationships, and supplier relationships are all at risk.
"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 banker."
He estimated that seven to eight, possibly ten, contractors in the community could be eliminated from doing business because of debt incurred on the project. Barack Obama's continued public role has kept him in the spotlight on a range of controversies, but the financial fallout on his home turf carries a particular sting.
"The promise was that this project was going to uplift minority contractors and uplift the community. What sense is celebrating Juneteenth if our Black contractors are not getting their money?"
Shareef's sharpest line captured the disillusionment plainly:
"If they would have known it was a Trojan horse or a Pandora's box, I don't know if they would have raced as much as they did to be a part of it."
The Obama Foundation told Fox News Digital that it paid Lakeside Alliance as construction manager and that Lakeside was responsible for hiring, managing, and paying subcontractors. The foundation said it has no outstanding disputed charges with Lakeside Alliance and no contractual relationship with Lakeside's subcontractors.
Lakeside Alliance, for its part, said projects of this scale are inherently complex and that outstanding project matters often continue long after construction ends. Lakeside said the project generated significant opportunities for local tradespeople and businesses and that it remains committed to working through outstanding matters to successfully close out the project.
Neither statement addressed the specific dollar amounts claimed by the subcontractors or the bankruptcy filings. The Obama Foundation committed to awarding 50 percent of subcontracting packages to minority-owned firms, a commitment that made the project's diversity promises central to its public identity.
The foundation's structure creates a convenient layer of insulation. By pointing to Lakeside Alliance as the party responsible for subcontractor payments, the foundation avoids direct accountability for the claims. Lakeside, in turn, offers the kind of general language about complexity that large construction managers routinely deploy when disputes arise. The subcontractors are left navigating between two entities, neither of which appears eager to write the check.
Owen, the Adamson Plumbing owner, said he felt he had no choice but to speak publicly. He framed it not as an attack but as a last resort:
"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. 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."
The Obama Presidential Center has already drawn scrutiny on other fronts, including its admission policies. But the contractor payment claims cut closer to the project's founding promise: that the center would be a force for economic uplift on Chicago's South Side.
What the subcontractors describe is the opposite. Firms that signed on expecting a two-year project found themselves locked into five years of work, absorbing costs from design changes, rework, and bureaucratic churn. Some filed liens. Some filed for bankruptcy. Some are afraid to speak at all.
The celebration will go on. The celebrities will perform. Obama remains a commanding figure in Democratic politics, and the center bearing his name will open its doors to the public. But outside those doors, a protest is planned, led by contractors who say the project's promises were hollow.
A billion-dollar monument to hope and community is a fine thing. It's a better thing when the people who built it actually get paid.
