Woodlawn Tenants Unionize Over Obama Center Displacement Fears

Tenants at the Chaney Braggs Apartments in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood have formed a tenant union and rallied this month to oppose a potential sale they fear will bring rent hikes or demolition tied to development around the Obama Presidential Center. Residents, many of whom have lived in the building for 30 to 40 years and pay about $700–$800 a month, say a California-based investor is seeking to buy the property and has offered $2,000 per household to move, which they argue is far below what is needed to stay in the area as prices rise. The building was once owned by a nonprofit dedicated to affordable housing, but with those protections gone, tenants say they are newly exposed to market pressures as the 19.3‑acre presidential campus in nearby Jackson Park nears its June opening. No sale has been finalized and the buyer has not been publicly identified, and residents say they have reached out to city and state officials but have yet to receive a meaningful response. The fight crystallizes broader anxieties on Chicago’s South Side that a high‑profile presidential project championed as an economic boon is accelerating gentrification and threatening long‑time, low‑income residents.