Obama Presidential Center subcontractors file fresh payment claims totaling nearly $900K

Three more subcontractors that worked on the Obama Presidential Center have filed legal claims saying they are owed nearly $900,000, adding to a growing list of payment disputes surrounding the project.

The companies each filed mechanics liens against the Obama Presidential Center property, a routine legal tool used on construction projects to recover unpaid construction costs. The subcontractors claim they are owed money for structural steel, excavation and concrete, and gymnasium flooring work performed on Home Court, the Center’s 60,000-square-foot basketball and events facility.

Structural steel subcontractor Area Erectors is seeking nearly $620,000, excavation and concrete subcontractor CSI 3000 — the only Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) of the three — claims it is owed about $236,000, and gymnasium flooring specialist Floors Incorporated says it is owed nearly $25,000.

Unlike previous payment disputes reported by Fox News Digital, which largely involved work across the main campus, these claims relate specifically to Home Court, which was built under a separate construction contract. It comes as Home Court is hosting several high-profile WNBA All-Star Weekend events this week which the former president attended.

The Home Court claims are the latest in a series of subcontractor payment disputes previously reported by Fox News Digital involving the broader Obama Presidential Center project, located in Chicago’s historic Jackson Park. The disputes add to a growing list of challenges during construction, including the project’s ballooning cost — from an initial estimate of about $350 million to more than $1 billion — and legal challenges over contracting practices and diversity requirements.

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Home Court construction

The Home Court is located at the southern end of the campus and features a regulation-size NBA basketball court, training space and multipurpose meeting and event rooms. The basketball court is decorated with phrases associated with former President Barack Obama, including “Yes we can” and “No one does big things alone.”

The Obama Foundation, Obama’s private nonprofit organization, oversees construction of the Obama Presidential Center. It hired Lakeside Alliance as the primary construction manager for most of the campus.

Home Court, however, was built under a separate contract by Elevate Design Builders, a joint venture led by minority-owned BOWA Construction that served as construction manager for the facility.

Although the mechanics liens are filed against the Obama Presidential Center property, they do not determine which entity is legally responsible for the disputed payments.

The newly identified liens were recorded around the time of the Obama Presidential Center’s June 19 opening. The Cook County Clerk’s Office told Fox News Digital there is typically a four-to-six-week delay before recorded documents appear in its online property records database, meaning they only recently became searchable online.

Elevate and the Obama Foundation did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the three subcontractors.

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Three more liens identified

Fox News Digital also identified three previously unreported mechanics liens totaling about $557,000 involving other portions of the Obama Presidential Center project.

Unlike the Home Court claims, which arise from work performed under contracts connected to Elevate Design Builders, the additional liens involve subcontractors and suppliers seeking payment further down the project’s contracting chain.

For instance, O’Leary’s Contractors Equipment & Supply is seeking about $184,000 in allegedly unpaid equipment rental invoices. The Cement Masons’ Union Trust Funds alleges more than $326,000 in unpaid fringe benefit contributions, while Intek Construction Products is seeking about $47,000 for labor and materials it says it supplied to the project.

Jeffrey Molchan, whose company Intek Construction Products filed one of the liens, told Fox News Digital the company was seeking payment on its final invoice from another contractor and that “the project did not go as well as we anticipated in terms of the timeliness of the payment.”

The additional liens involve portions of the project managed by Lakeside Alliance. In a statement, Lakeside said the Obama Presidential Center involved multiple structures, hundreds of trade partners and community businesses, and that contractual closeout continues after the center’s opening. The joint venture said it remains committed to working through outstanding matters.

Previous payment disputes

Fox News Digital previously reported that Black subcontractors alleged they were owed millions of dollars for work on the project, while Concrete Collective filed a mechanics lien seeking more than $40 million. The lien was later replaced by a court-approved surety bond while the underlying dispute continues in court. Adamson Plumbing also said it suspended operations and laid off workers after claiming it was left nearly $4 million in the red.

Fox News Digital also previously reported that at least four other companies filed mechanics liens during construction, while two subcontractors — Glass Management Services and Vision Painting & Decorating Services — later sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Court records do not establish that the Obama Presidential Center caused those bankruptcies.

Since that reporting, two of the previously identified mechanics lien claims have been withdrawn, including one after the claimant said it recovered the amount sought through the lien, though the owner told Fox News Digital the company still lost about $200,000 on the project overall. One previously reported lien remains unresolved.

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