The Obama Center is expected to have a significant impact on the South Side of Chicago, though the project is not without controversy. Already areas around the development are seeing a spike in home sales. For example, the small community of Jackson Park Highlands, located right next to Jackson Park, is experiencing a real estate sale boom, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Rendering courtesy of Obama Center

The neighborhood is just 16 square blocks, but it’s attracting a lot of attention because of its location near the planned Obama Center. Additionally, the neighborhood has the benefit of a University of Chicago homeownership assistance program. Buyers are finding large homes at prices that would only get you a small condo in other parts of the city, according to the report. 

The Jackson Park Highlands also has a diverse mix of architectural styles like Spanish Colonial, English Tudor, and Greek Revival. Plus, neighborhood residents form a pretty tight-knit community, something that can feel like an anomaly in a big city like Chicago. 

“If someone’s gate’s open, we close it. If someone’s sick, I make a pot of soup — it’s that type of neighborhood. That’s who we are,” real estate agent and neighborhood resident Mary Ellen Holt told the Chicago Tribune. 

Other South Side Neighborhoods in the Spotlight  

Jackson Park Highlands is not the only neighborhood taking a turn in the spotlight the Obama Center has turned on the South Side. Last year, Woodlawn  garnered a lot of attention as the city’s next hot neighborhood. Developers are flocking to the neighborhood to build in-demand homes. 

While rising home values can certainly be seen as a positive, some people are questioning how the new development will affect low-income residents who have long lived in the South Side neighborhoods near the Obama Center, according to the Chicago Tribune.  

“Economic development is a code word for gentrification,” Jawanza Brian Malone, director of Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, said at a symposium at the University of Chicago, according to Curbed Chicago. 

A group of University of Chicago professors came together and signed a letter expressing various concerns about the center’s location and its promise of economic benefits.

Displacement of low-income residents in areas undergoing dramatic revitalization projects like the Obama Center is not a new story. The question is: will the story be different here? 

“I think people are looking at what’s happened in some other neighborhoods and want to get ahead of the curve. They don’t want to look back later and say, ‘Oops. We didn’t do enough to protect the low-income renters and owners that are here,’” said Bill Eager, the Chicago-area vice president of the Preservation of Affordable Housing, according to the Chicago Tribune report.

Concerns about the residents of the area are not the only controversy clouding the project.The nonprofit Friends of the Park is criticizing the development for its location on park land.

It’s unclear how the plans for the Obama center will change, if at all, but in the meantime interest in the surrounding neighborhoods remains high.