Obama Presidential Center looks to ‘put presidency in context’ as tickets sell out

Former President Barack Obama‘s presidential center is set to open to the public this Juneteenth, with ticket sales sold out through July 4, as the namesake looks toward defining his legacy as the 44th U.S. president.

The 19.3-acre campus is a community-based center in Chicago‘s Jackson Park neighborhood. Barack Obama and Michelle Obama sought to construct a community space rather than a traditional presidential library, in line with their focus on public service and in giving back to the area where Barack began his political career, being elected as a state senator there in 1996.

The Obama Presidential Center has set records as the longest-delayed and most expensive presidential library in history. The project’s estimated cost ballooned from an initial estimate of $330 million, the Obama Foundation said.

The $850 million project includes a 235-foot tower with a museum and the Obama Foundation offices, a branch of the Chicago Public Library, a