Hyde Park, Woodlawn and South Shore hope to attract tourists visiting the Obama Presidential Center

The new Barack Obama Presidential Center sits in Jackson Park, along Chicago's lakefront. That's part of Woodlawn, one of three communities immediately adjacent to the towering tribute built to honor the nation's 44th president and his two terms in office.

Tourists will, no doubt, flock to the Obama Presidential Center, but will they venture out and visit Woodlawn, Hyde Park and South Shore as well?

Comunity groups, residents and business owners are counting on the answer being yes. In addition, they're hoping for increased investment in neighborhoods that have long been overlooked.

Woodlawn

Two miles away from the Presidential Center on the southwest side of Woodlawn sits a restaurant called Let's Eat To Live, owned by Carmella Coq'mard.

"It's amazing for the community. We don't get a lot of good publicity in this community, and I think that this is perfect," she said.

Let's Eat To Live is a farm to table restaurant. Many of the items don't have to travel far to get on a plate; much of the food is grown next door in a fruit, vegetable and herb garden. 

"We grow all the vegetables that we use in the restaurant, bell peppers, onions," Coq'mard said. "From mustard greens to broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, eggplant."

In summer, the patio will be open too. For this restaurant, community is an essential ingredient.

"On Thursdays, when we get ready to harvest, we send a note out to the community, and they come and get all the vegetables that the restaurant is not going to be able to use for free," Coq'mard said. 

She plans to strengthen that community connection. Coq'mard thinks most of the tourists visiting the Obama Center will probably take their dollars into Hyde Park to eat and shop, but still sees opportunities within Woodlawn to attract new customers.

"There are always people in these areas looking for somewhere to eat," she said.

She also plans to take advantage of the buzz around the new presidential hot-spot on Chicago's South Side by offering more to do this summer, like comedy and spoken-word nights on weekends and events for children.

And the community Coq'mard is trying to attract is getting bigger. Since January of 2025, a few dozen new construction permits have been issued. Most of the buildings recently completed or currently under construction are smaller residential buildings. Some sites used to be vacant lots.

Hyde Park

Home to the University of Chicago, the Obama family home (in nearby Kenwood) and several Metra stops. Hyde Park is already a bustling neighborhood.

"This is really a new season for the South Side of Chicago," said Ivy McQueen, manager of the Sophy Hotel located about a mile away from the Obama Presidential Center. "We want people to not hop on the Metra and get off, go the center, hop back on and leave, right? We want you to walk throughout the neighborhood, stop and eat somewhere."

The Sophy is one of three hotels in Hyde Park. It was built eight years ago, anticipating the center would be built nearby.

"We formed something called the Hyde Park Collective," said McQueen.

The collective includes Sophy, Hyatt Place and The Study and helps them cash in on conferences and corporate business together.

Now, the group wants to market itself to tourists who are within a mile of their hotels.

"We're not just telling you Sophy has 96 guest rooms, we're telling you Hyde Park has 400 guest rooms," McQueen said.

South Shore

Just steps from the lake, with a great view of it, sits Nafsi South Shore Beach, owned by Donnell Digby. It's located in the South Shore Cultural Center, at the end of Jackson Park, near the golf course and about two and a half miles south of the Obama Presidential Center.

"We're excited as ever to have it open, be ready for the public and be part of the journey. History in the making," Digby said.

Nfasi South Shore Beach serves up affordable food with an upscale twist on treasured Southern traditions like shrimp & grits, fried green tomatoes and chicken and waffle. And there's more.

"We have branzino, we have oysters, we have snapper, and, um, we have a gamut of things that, that touch the soul," said Digby.

This year he's trying out a new marketing strategy, using social media foodies to post about their experiences at his place.

"We have a social media campaign that we're rolling out," he said. "We have a line of influencers from across the world that we've brought in to come and taste the food, judge the food, and also promote what they feel and how they feel the food is."

Digby hopes those posts, reposts and shares will bring more tourists to his tables.

"People click, touch, share those posts around the world, and that brings a gamut of people in from all different backgrounds and spaces," he said. 

He's also planning several incentives connected with the new Obama Presidential Center.

"We're gonna give a free appetizer to anyone who comes in with an Obama Museum ticket that day of the ticket. We're gonna have cool Obama Museum items on the menu, and we're gonna have an Obama Museum lunch hour for people that go early in the morning for their museum tour," said Digby.

And he hopes to get added as a destination in the FAQs section for the center and hotels.

"Chicago is a world class city and we should be ready to give a world class experience," he said. 

But, it's a struggle to attract tourists to a part the South Side that has a fair share of vacant lots, boarded up buildings and a less-than stellar reputation.

"It's a perception. I don't believe that the crime is as bad as most people perceive it to be," said Tonya Trice, director of the South Shore Chamber of Commerce.

In fact, data from the city's  Violence Reduction Dashboard shows when comparing 2026 to this period in 2025 in South Shore, homicides victimizations are down 25%, robberies are down 33% and overall violent crime is down 12%.

"Economic development is always the solution to reducing crime," said Trice.

She said part of that new economic development are some new places to eat which are opening soon.

"We have three new restaurants coming to the 71st Street district, which we are very excited about, three dine-in restaurants," Trice said. "We will work with the Obama Presidential Center and the Obama Foundation to make sure that they are helping us to recruit tourists back onto the commercial corridors."