Obama Settles on Library City

Tough luck, Honolulu and New York: Chicago, the city where President Obama started his political career, has been chosen as the site of his presidential library and museum, sources tell the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. Hawaii, where Obama grew up, and his alma mater Columbia University in New York City had been seen as contenders, but insiders say the president has settled on the University of Chicago for the Barack Obama Presidential Library and Museum and will make an official announcement in the weeks to come.

Sources tell the Tribune that Obama—who decided to wait until after the Chicago mayoral runoff, which Rahm Emanuel won, to announce a choice—may also be looking at a Bill Clinton-style split, with the library in his adopted hometown but his foundation offices in New York City, where Columbia has reportedly offered him a plot of land. The sources say there may also be a presidential center in Hawaii. The University of Chicago has two South Side sites in mind, according to the Times: Washington Park and Jackson Park, though both sites will face challenges from groups who don't want parkland used for the project. (More Chicago stories.)