As the Obama Presidential Center opens in Chicago, unpaid invoice claims from several subcontractors have sparked legal scrutiny and renewed questions about project oversight, contractor accountability, and the challenges of managing one of the nation's most ambitious civic construction projects.
The Obama Presidential Center is a 19.3-acre campus built to honor and preserve the legacy of former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama. It is located in Jackson Park in Chicago. The presidential center includes a museum, community athletics and events space, and a branch of the Chicago Public Library. The center opened this year on June 19 — the Juneteenth holiday.
Several readers have asked us about reports that subcontractors who worked on the project are still owed money and whether the former president is at fault. “Did Obama stiff 2 contractors on the work they did on the library?” one reader asked. Another inquired: “Are the Obamas in debt to minority contractors?”
A week before the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, Crain’s Chicago Business first reported that several subcontractors on the job said they haven’t been paid. The article contained information from mostly anonymous contractors. “The companies, including several established minority-led firms, allege a portion of the unforeseen costs on a project that came in hundreds of millions of dollars over its original estimated budget has been pushed onto them and other small contractors least able to afford them — jeopardizing jobs and the future of some businesses the historic project was designed to elevate,” Crain’s reported.
“Multiple contractors that spoke to Crain’s on condition of anonymity due to confidentiality agreements described a highly complex and delay-riddled construction process with drastic changes to the scope of work and little clarity about who held the final say on key aspects of the project,” the story said.
Crain’s, and subsequently other news outlets that reported on this, quoted Omar Shareef, the president of the African American Contractors Association in Chicago, who said that seven subcontractors had reached out to him in recent months for help getting paid.
Before construction started, the Obama Foundation had made a commitment to prioritizing minority-owned firms, saying that at least 50% of subcontracts would go to “diverse firms,” including those owned by minorities and women.
Later in June, the Chicago Crusader published a story saying that Shareef put the number of Black subcontractors who had contacted him at “about eight” and said they had submitted invoices to Turner Construction that were months past due, totaling about $100 million. Turner Construction is part of Lakeside Alliance, a joint venture of five construction firms and the builder of the Obama Presidential Center.
Shareef confirmed those details to us in a phone interview. He said the $100 million total included a $40 million claim in a lawsuit filed last year against the structural engineer on the project (more on that later). He said the number of subcontractors who had contacted him was now 10, including two white-owned companies.
Shareef said the situation was “very unfortunate because these people looked forward to working on the Obama Center,” adding that they were “proud” to work on the presidential museum for the only African American U.S. president. He said the outstanding invoices had been “a disaster” for many of the companies, which had mortgages or loan payments due.
Crain’s noted that there were about 475 subcontractors in total on the project. It quoted the operations manager of a ventilation duct contractor, Ryan Cowdrey, as saying that the company hadn’t had a problem getting payment. “We’re on track to close out as we should for a project of this magnitude,” he told Crain’s.
The Obama Foundation sent us a statement saying that Lakeside Alliance, as the construction manager, had “primary responsibility … to hire and manage all the subcontractors for the project. Lakeside oversaw the bidding process, including reviewing bids for an understanding of the scope of work and related costs.”
The foundation said it had “no outstanding disputed charges with Lakeside” and “no direct legal agreements or contracts with Lakeside’s subcontractors.”
We also reached out to Lakeside Alliance, and a spokesperson said in a statement: “Projects of this scale and complexity are inherently demanding. The Obama Presidential Center involved multiple structures, thousands of design documents, and hundreds of trade partners and community businesses. As with many major construction projects, contractual closeout — including the review and resolution of outstanding invoices, change orders, and other project matters — continues long after the doors open.”
The spokesperson said that Lakeside “continues to work to support the businesses that helped deliver this project” and remains “committed to working through outstanding matters to successfully close out the project.”
We asked Stan Martin, an attorney who has practiced construction law for more than 40 years, whether the payment flow described by the Obama Foundation is the way construction projects typically work — with an owner paying the main contractor, who then is responsible for hiring and paying subcontractors. He said that it was.
“The most common project delivery structure is for the project owner to engage one contractor,” Martin said. “The contractor, in turn, engages a number of subcontractors who perform the different aspects of the project. The owner typically has one contract with the contractor, and no contractual relationship with any subcontractors.”
Shareef told us that regardless of which entity specifically owes money for the outstanding invoices, “the buck stops with the owner” in his view. He said there must be a way for the Obama family or foundation to correct this. “Nothing has been resolved,” Shareef said regarding the companies that have reached out to him.
Specific Disputes
One subcontractor quoted by name is Michael Owen, president of Adamson Plumbing Contractors, who said his company is owed about $4 million on the approximately $12 million in work it performed. Crain’s reported that Owen said the original bid was for $6.9 million of work.
Owen told Crain’s and Fox News that delays and change orders increased the cost. He described a dispute with a mechanical engineering consultant over a type of clamp his firm used, which led to his firm having to redo the work at a cost of about $800,000, Crain’s reported. Fox News reported that Owen, whose company isn’t minority-owned, “has been trying to recover money it says it is owed from parties involved and has not filed a lawsuit.”
The most prominent dispute involves II in One Contractors, which, in January 2025, sued the structural engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti, alleging that the firm engaged in racial discrimination by making “unfair” and “false” statements about the quality of concrete work performed by II in One and other companies. The lawsuit seeks at least $40.8 million for work done by the concrete companies. In a motion to dismiss the suit, attorneys for Tomasetti said the plaintiffs “allege no verifiable falsehood.”
The case is still pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Fox News reported that two minority-owned subcontractors for the project had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2024. Snopes.com quoted an attorney for one of the companies, Vision Painting & Decorating Services, as saying the bankruptcy was “obviously” due to the Obama Presidential Center being “way behind schedule and other public work constraints.”
The other company, Glass Management Services, said in a March 2025 court filing that its bankruptcy “was caused, in part, by significant project delays, cost overruns, and financial harm resulting from defects in Concrete Collective’s work” on the presidential center, Snopes noted. The filing seeks information about whether Lakeside Alliance was aware of these issues before asking GMS to do the glass work.
We reached out to Vision Painting & Decorating Services and Glass Management Services, but we haven’t received a response.
According to the Cook County Clerk’s Office, several companies have filed mechanic’s liens against the Obama Center property seeking payment. A mechanic’s lien is a legal claim that unpaid parties (such as subcontractors) can attach to the property they worked on to prevent it from being sold or refinanced until payment is made.
Clearly, there are ongoing disputes among subcontractors, other firms, and the general contractor. The Obama Foundation maintains that it has paid Lakeside and has “no direct legal agreements” with the subcontractors. Lakeside hasn’t disputed that.
“The Obama Presidential Center stands as a testament to the dedication and hard work of thousands of craftspeople, trade partners, community members, and stakeholders,” the Lakeside Alliance spokesperson told us. The alliance “is appreciative of everyone who contributed to making this vision a reality and proud of the lasting impact the project will have for generations to come.”
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By James A. Wright
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