Jackson Park picked for Obama center site

Amanda Butcher and her son Niles, 6, enjoy exercising at a track in Jackson Park in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood on July 27, 2016. This a portion of Jackson Park that will be will be transformed into the Obama presidential library.

Niles Butcher, 6, rides at a track in Jackson Park in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood on July 27, 2016. This portion of Jackson Park will be transformed into the Obama Presidential Library.

A man walks around the track at Jackson Park on July 27, 2016. The park will be transformed as the new home of the Obama Presidential Library.

Day camp students walk July 27, 2016, through a portion of Jackson Park that will be transformed into the Obama Presidential Library.

Angela Clark, 40, walks her dog, Jenny, along 63rd Street at Kenwood Avenue on May 2, 2016. She owns a house (behind her) built by Woodlawn Community Development Corp.

The Rev. Leon Finney Jr., who heads up the Woodlawn Community Development Corp., stands March 10, 2016, near a small development he built at 63rd Street and Blackstone Avenue, near Jackson Park, a potential site for the Obama library.

Robust Coffee Lounge, is seen on May 2. 2016, on corner of Woodlawn Avenue and 63rd Street. “The neighborhood certainly has a lot of potential to be more than a parking lot,” said owner Jake Sapstein.

Students from Hyde Park Academy High School walk May 2, 2016, along 63rd Street by the Apostolic Church of God, which is near a site for the Obama library in Jackson Park.

The Apostolic Church of God sits next to the 63rd Street Metra station. The church holds title to more than 40 parcels of land near the Metra Electric District Station at 63rd Street and Dorchester Avenue.

A woman walks past parking lots at Dorchester Avenue and 63rd Street, which are owned by the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago.

The Rev. Byron Brazier visits the corner of 63rd Street and Stony Island Avenue on May 8, 2015, next to Jackson Park, a site he hopes is selected for the Obama library. “My belief is that the library and the community will operate on good faith,” he said.

Jackson Park has the distinction of having hosted part of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

The 63rd Street Metra station on May 2, 2016, and the 59th Street station may be renovated if Jackson Park is selected for construction of the Obama presidential library.