Obama Presidential Center to open on Juneteenth in Chicago

The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago's Jackson Park will officially open on Juneteenth, the Obama Foundation announced this past weekend.

"It's easy to look around right now and feel like the challenges we face are simply too big. But hope is not about ignoring the hard stuff. It is that thing inside us that insists something better awaits if we're willing to work for it," former President Barack Obama said in a video released Saturday. "Here on the South Side of Chicago, hope is getting a permanent home. Starting on June 19, you can visit the Obama Presidential Center."

Former President Obama noted that the Obama Presidential Center will include a world-class museum, a new Chicago Public Library branch, "sweeping green spaces filled with public art," and a basketball court.

The Obama Foundation website describes Home Court at the Obama Presidential Center as featuring an NBA regulation-size court, with intersecting practice courts and flexible seating.

The center will also feature an interactive replica of the Oval Office.

"This is a place where a child next door or across the globe can sit behind the Resolute Desk and imagine how they could help create a better world," former President Obama said in the video.

The sprawling 20-acre Obama Presidential Center campus in Jackson Park, just blocks from the lake and just south of the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, includes several buildings, playgrounds, and a 225-foot museum tower.

While renowned architects designed the buildings, the community's input was equally important. Team members from the Obama Center visited all 77 Chicago community areas, providing updates, answering questions, and responding to concerns.

In December, Obama Foundation chief executive officer Valerie Jarrett and deputy director Kim Patterson said they couldn't wait to open the center in June of this year.