A plumbing subcontractor who says he is owed nearly $4 million for work on the Barack Obama Presidential Center has suspended operations and laid off 25 union workers, weeks after the Chicago campus’s star-studded opening.
Mike Owen, owner of Adamson Plumbing Contractors, told Fox News Digital the financial fallout from the dispute forced his company to abandon roughly half a dozen other construction jobs and pushed it to the brink of collapse. He described the shutdown as a painful but necessary step to avoid bankruptcy.
“We were put in a pretty bad corner,” Mr. Owen said of the decision to lay off close to 30 employees.
Adamson, which performed its Obama Center work under the name Marsh-Adamson, has filed a $1.72 million mechanic’s lien against the property, escalating the dispute into a legal fight. That figure covers what Mr. Owen says are his most readily documented losses; he has said the company’s total losses tied to the project run closer to $3.9 million.
The company is one of several subcontractors that have alleged financial losses or payment disputes after working on the center, which was promoted as an economic opportunity for minority-owned businesses. A previous Fox News Digital investigation found several subcontractors, including Black-owned firms, said they were owed money or had absorbed losses ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions.
Breaking point
Mr. Owen said the project had left his company with $3.9 million in losses tied to delays, rework and changing demands even before the center opened. He said he negotiated for months with Lakeside Alliance, the project’s construction manager, before going public.
The breaking point, he said, came around the center’s opening celebration. Adamson had agreed to provide two plumbers for last-minute overnight work in exchange for a partial payment before the June 19 opening, but Mr. Owen said the money did not arrive on time, leaving him no choice but to suspend operations on June 25.
Lakeside Alliance, a joint venture led by Turner Construction and four Black-owned Chicago firms — UJAMAA Construction, Powers & Sons Construction, Brown & Momen and Safeway Construction — did not directly address Mr. Owen’s allegations, the layoffs or the lien. A spokesperson said the alliance “remains committed to working through all outstanding matters” to close out the project.
The Obama Foundation, the former president’s nonprofit that oversees the center, said Lakeside was responsible for managing and paying subcontractors and that the foundation had no outstanding disputed charges with the alliance. The foundation said its payment terms exceeded industry norms, noting it began with a 15-day payment cycle that is “largely unheard of in major construction projects.”
Costs and scrutiny
Construction costs, initially projected at about $350 million, had climbed to $830 million by 2021 and have reportedly topped $1 billion since. A promised $470 million reserve meant to protect Chicago taxpayers if the center ran into financial trouble has so far received just $1 million. The Obama Foundation secured the 19.3-acre Jackson Park site through a 99-year lease for a one-time $10 payment.
Mr. Owen said he does not blame former President Barack Obama personally but believes the foundation should acknowledge the subcontractors’ complaints. He also questioned why Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a pro-union Democrat, has not addressed the payment disputes.
With Adamson’s future uncertain, Mr. Owen said he expects to have to find other work.
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