Chicago community leaders and longtime residents say the Obama Presidential Center risks washing away the neighborhoods fabric, warning that proposed luxury developments tied to the project could price out families who have long called the South Side home, according to a report.They also say the sprawling 19.3-acre site in historic Jackson Park, with its 225-foot-tall concrete museum, has become an eyesore that disrupts the natural landscape and all locals are getting in return for the unsightly structure is soaring rents and higher tax bills."This is a monument to one man's ego,"Steve Cortes, a longtime Chicagoan and former advisor to President Donald Trump, told the Daily Mail. "Look at the Reagan Library. It's beautiful. This? There are almost no windows. What are they hiding? And this Brutalist cement look in a city known for its incredible architecture."OBAMA LIBRARY, BEGUN WITH LOFTY DEI GOALS, NOW PLAGUED BY $40M RACIALLY CHARGED SUIT, BALLOONING COSTSThe Obama Foundation secured a 99-year lease for the public parcel for $10 in 2018 and promised to revitalize the area. Obama said at the time that the project did not intend to displace residents, adding that its overseers are trying to balance boosting jobs and economic development in the area while maintaining and protecting existing affordable housing.Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor, who represents much of the working-class neighborhood surrounding the site, fears that locals are being priced out."Every time large development comes to communities, they displace the very people they say they want to improve it for. This was no different, and were living what is actually happening," Taylor told the outlet. "Were going to see rents go higher and were going to see families displaced."She has pushed for protections such as affordable housing requirements around the site, tenant purchase rights and rental assistance to shield residents from displacement. She won some concessions in the 2020 agreement whereby 30% of new units on city-owned land were to be affordable but many of her broader demands, including a full Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), were not adopted.CHICAGO SOUTH SIDE RESIDENTS SAY THEY'RE BEING DISPLACED BY OBAMA CENTER: CAUSING 'HARM TO BLACK FAMILIES'A CBA is a binding deal that requires developers to deliver protections such as affordable housing, local hiring or other safeguards to ensure big projects dont push out existing residents."The city of Chicago should have done a Community Benefits Agreement before the first shovel went into the ground, but they didnt," Taylor said. "Were going to see small landlords having to raise the rent. Their property taxes are going up and were going to see development that is not inclusive to our community."Residents point to a proposed 250-room luxury hotel as a symbol and a driver of economic pressures far beyond the scale of existing neighborhood development. Once a major luxury project is approved, surrounding property values typically spike and so its presence signals to investors and developers that the area is shifting toward wealthier clientele and away from its historically working-class, majority-Black base.The hotels approval is still under review, and residents have held demonstrations calling for its rejection. The investment firm behind the project is headed byAllison Davis, a veteran real estate developer and lawyer who was Obamas first boss out of Harvard Law School.TRUMP OFFERS TO HELP OBAMA WITH PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY'S 'DISASTER'"When you got peoples rent going from $850 to $1,300 youre telling people you dont want them in the neighborhood," said Dixon Romeo, an organizer with the Obama Community Benefits Agreement Coalition, told NBC Chicago at a demonstration in April.Since ground was broken, construction has progressed at a snails pace while costs have ballooned from an original estimate of $330 million to a 2021 foundation projection of $830 million with no updates since then.The center, which aims to honor former President Barack Obama's political career, will also consist of a digital library, conference facilities, a gymnasium and a regulation-sized NBA court. It will also house the nonprofit Obama Foundation, which is overseeing the centers development.The scale of the project and the aesthetics of its centerpiece library have come in for criticism.Ken Woodard, an attorney and father of six who grew up in the area, called it a "monstrosity." "It looks like this big piece of rock that just landed here out of nowhere in what used to be a really nice landscape of trees and flowers," Woodward told the Daily Mail."Its over budget, its taking way too long to finish and its going to drive up prices and bring headaches and problems for everyone who lives here. It feels like a washing away of the neighborhood and culture that used to be here."Kyana Butler, an activist with Southside Together who campaigned for a CBA around the Obama Center, shared similar sentiments with the outlet."Its pretty huge and monstrous," Butler said. "It could have been smaller in scale and cost a lot less money. Were all worried about the impact on the community."Tyrone Muhammad, director of Ex-Cons for Community and Social Change, said, "Its truly the Tower of Babel.""Property taxes are going up so much that the owner of my building is saying she might just walk away.. I dont blame President Obama for all of this, but the people on his team may not have the best intentions for people in this area," Muhammed, a 2026 Illinois Senate candidate, told the outlet."Its disingenuous and hypocritical to take park space away from people and then not involve them in what takes its place. The move violates common decency."Fox News Digital has reached out to the Obama Center for comment.In May, PresidentDonald Trump offered to help out with the development of the center and linked DEI to the construction problems. The project set out "ambitious goals" for certain construction diversity quotas, with its contracts to be allocated to"diverse suppliers," 35% of which were required to be minority-based enterprises (MBEs)."Look, President Obama, if he wanted help, I'd give him help because I'm a really good builder and I build on time, on budget. He's building his library in Chicago. It's a disaster," Trump said, adding that Obama was paying for prioritizing DEI over meritocracy."And he wanted to be very politically correct and he didn't use good, hard, tough, mean construction workers that I love, Marco,"Trump said, while addressing Secretary of State Marco Rubio.A $40.75 million racially charged lawsuit filed earlier this year by a minority contractor against the projects structural engineer shined a spotlight on the DEI-driven aspect of the project. The structural engineers claimed the minority contractor lacked sufficient qualifications and experience to perform its work, resulting in delays.