In the autumn of 2026, the Joe and Jill Biden Presidential Library Foundation still listed its headquarters as “TBD.” Tax filings from 2024 showed roughly $4 million on hand—money transferred from an earlier inaugural committee—and almost nothing spent beyond a few thousand dollars on equipment. The foundation had told the IRS it hoped to raise $11.3 million total by the end of 2027. That was the entire projected haul for a project that, in more optimistic earlier sketches, had been described as an “immersive museum” and civic hub.
A major Democratic donor, speaking anonymously to the Daily Mail, put the situation bluntly: “No real library will ever be built. Sadly, for him, that ship has sailed.” Other potential donors had already signaled reluctance after Biden’s decision to seek a second term, his health-related exit from the race, and the subsequent pardon of Hunter Biden. Wilmington officials had exchanged emails about possible riverfront sites; the University of Delaware, where a Biden Institute already existed, remained in the conversation. Nothing was confirmed. Meanwhile, the National Archives held the presidential records in Maryland facilities, with public access under the Presidential Records Act not expected until 2030.
Meanwhile, in Chicago, the Barack Obama Presidential Center had opened in Jackson Park in June 2026 after years of delays and cost growth. Early estimates had put construction in the $300–350 million range; by opening the figure stood around $850 million and was later described as approaching or exceeding $1 billion. Public infrastructure spending on roads, utilities, and stormwater tied to the site also ran into the hundreds of millions. The project had promoted contracting goals that prioritized diverse and minority-owned firms.
From the side of the subcontractors who did the work, the opening was when the money stopped arriving. Michael Owen of Adamson Plumbing said his firm performed roughly $12 million in work on a job originally bid near $6.9 million. Delays, rework, and more than 100 change orders left him still owed nearly $4 million after the doors opened. He suspended operations, laid off about 25 union workers, and filed a mechanic’s lien. He described the project as the financial blow that forced the company to shut down.
The Concrete Collective, which included the Black-owned firm II in One, pursued claims exceeding $40 million. It alleged extra costs from changed rebar and tolerance standards that differed from ordinary industry rules. II in One sued the structural engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti for racial discrimination, claiming false statements about the quality of its concrete work were used to withhold payment. The suit noted that diversity goals had been heavily advertised for the project.
Omar Shareef of the African American Contractors Association said multiple Black subcontractors contacted him about unpaid invoices, some in the seven-figure range. Additional mechanic’s liens appeared after opening for structural steel, excavation, concrete, flooring, and other work. Two firms that worked on the center—Vision Painting & Decorating Services and Glass Management Services, both described as Black-owned or Black-led—filed for bankruptcy and pointed to project delays and related financial harm.
Lakeside Alliance, the construction manager, was the entity that hired and was supposed to pay the subcontractors. Contractors who went public said the money for completed and extra work had not arrived, and that closeout was being used as the reason to keep withholding it. From their ledgers, a high-profile campus that promised economic opportunity left several local and minority-owned businesses with losses large enough to threaten or end them.
In Delaware the contrast was plain. Obama’s center existed as a physical campus, even while some of the people who built it said they were still waiting to be paid. Biden’s foundation had a website, a governance board that included former aides such as Antony Blinken and Rufus Gifford, and a stated desire for a Delaware home. It did not yet have a confirmed site, major new fundraising, or the donor enthusiasm that had financed recent predecessors. Discussions floated the idea of folding any future functions into existing University of Delaware facilities rather than constructing a standalone building.
Presidential libraries are built by private foundations before transfer to the National Archives. Recent ones have grown expensive. Biden’s team had spoken of something smaller and more modest. Even that scale looked out of reach if the donor base stayed cold. The records sat in Maryland storage. The foundation’s cash remained thin. And in Chicago, some of the contractors who had poured the concrete and run the pipes for the last major Democratic presidential center were still arguing over who would finally get paid.