Three subcontractors have filed legal claims totaling nearly $900,000, asserting they are owed payment for work performed on the Obama Presidential Center's Home Court facility. These filings add to a series of payment disputes that have emerged during the construction of the Chicago-based project.
The companies have filed mechanics liens against the property, a common legal measure for recovering unpaid construction costs. The claims specifically relate to work on Home Court, a 60,000-square-foot basketball and events facility. Structural steel subcontractor Area Erectors is seeking approximately $620,000, excavation and concrete subcontractor CSI 3000 is owed about $236,000, and gymnasium flooring specialist Floors Incorporated claims it is due nearly $25,000.
These new claims are distinct from previous disputes as they pertain to Home Court, which was constructed under a separate contract managed by Elevate Design Builders, a joint venture led by minority-owned BOWA Construction. The broader Obama Presidential Center project is overseen by the Obama Foundation and managed by Lakeside Alliance for most of the campus.
The liens were recorded around the time of the Obama Presidential Center's June 19 opening. While the mechanics liens are filed against the property, they do not definitively assign responsibility for the disputed payments.
Separately, three additional previously unreported mechanics liens totaling about $557,000 have been identified, involving other sections of the Obama Presidential Center project. These liens are linked to subcontractors and suppliers seeking payment further down the project's contracting chain and involve portions managed by Lakeside Alliance. O'Leary's Contractors Equipment & Supply is seeking roughly $184,000 for unpaid equipment rental invoices, the Cement Masons' Union Trust Funds alleges more than $326,000 in unpaid fringe benefit contributions, and Intek Construction Products is seeking about $47,000 for labor and materials.
Past payment disputes associated with the Obama Presidential Center include allegations from Black subcontractors seeking millions, a $40 million mechanics lien filed by Concrete Collective that was later replaced by a surety bond, and a claim from Adamson Plumbing for nearly $4 million, which led the company to suspend operations and lay off 25 workers. Two subcontractors involved in earlier disputes have since filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Since prior reporting, two mechanics liens have been withdrawn, and one remains unresolved.