WOODLAWN — The South Side of Chicago is getting the Barack Obama Presidential Library — and President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are about to make it official.
The Obamas are expected to announce their decision early Tuesday morning in a video address, but are holding off on visiting Chicago.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Marty Nesbitt, chairman of the Obama Foundation, which is leading the site selection for the library, are scheduled to make an announcement Tuesday afternoon at the Gary Comer Youth Center, 7200 S. Ingleside Ave.
Media reports have indicated for weeks that the Obamas had already made the decision that the University of Chicago would be chosen as the lead institution behind the library, which will house the president’s papers, correspondence and a museum.
The bigger decision of where the library will actually be built may have to wait.
U. of C. has proposed two sites, 21 acres in Jackson Park and 22 acres along the western edge of Washington Park that would link up with 10 acres of property in the Washington Park neighborhood owned by the university, city and Chicago Transit Authority.
The Obama Foundation will next select an architect to envision how the library would be situated on either of the two locations proposed by the U. of C.
The process of selecting a site for the Obama Library has taken over a year now, officially kicking off in March of 2014.
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