A hotel planned by a man linked to former President Barack Obama and located near his presidential center is facing scrutiny from local residents.
In March, Allison Davis’ company Aquinnah Investment Trust applied to build a 26-story hotel down the road from the under-construction Obama Presidential Center.
Newsweek contacted Davis by email to comment on this story.
The 303-foot hotel would have 250 rooms, shops and offices, a swimming pool, 118 car parking spaces and 12 bicycle parking spaces according to planning documents.
It would also rezone an affordable housing complex next to Island Terrace.
In August, it was approved by the Chicago Plan Commission, meaning it will now have to go to the City Council to approve the zoning aspect of the plan. A Chicago City source said that this decision would likely take place early in the fall.
This has caused some Chicago residents to speak out against it. In April 2025, protesters urged City Council members to vote against the proposal.
Dixon Romeo, an organizer with the Obama Community Benefits Agreement Coalition, told NBC: “When you can fast-track a luxury hotel — while everyone around that hotel lives in blight, knowing that that’ll raise the price to push them out — you’re intentionally trying to gentrify a neighborhood.”
Before the Chicago Plan Commission approved the hotel, they called on the public to submit arguments for and against the plan, which were then published on their website.
Two residents, Sanya Bhartiya and Rebeca Velasquez, sent identical emails that said: “A luxury hotel in the neighborhood would worsen issues that community members have already been vocal about by attracting more predatory developers to the area, raising the cost of living, and pricing more people out of the neighborhood.”
They added: “Nobody knows what our communities need better than the community members themselves — the city needs to listen to its residents who are actively speaking out against displacement, not developers who put profit over the community’s well-being.”
Meanwhile, experts too have voiced their concerns about the project. Karen Chapple, Professor Emerita of City & Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, told Newsweek: “When new development lands in a sensitive neighborhood, it can spur catalytic change. Long before shovels go in the ground, speculation will occur and tenants may be displaced. It is a terrible loss for the City of Chicago that it didn’t get anti-displacement protections in place to stabilize the community as soon as the Obama plans were announced. If the Community Benefits Agreement passes, it will likely include some rental assistance. But that is not enough; the City should be working with the nonprofit sector to procure land and buildings to keep them affordable in perpetuity, like San Francisco’s Small Sites Acquisition Program.
However, the project was met with some messages of support. Chicago resident Jennifer E. Bell called it a “vital step forward” because it has a “bird-friendly design” in public arguments.
Another resident, Dawn Young, wrote: “By choosing to implement bird-safe design strategies, the project team is helping to protect countless birds that pass through our city each year. I deeply appreciate this thoughtful and responsible approach to urban development.”
Meanwhile, Obama’s $850 million center, which will serve as a cultural and historical landmark as a tribute to former president Obama, has also attracted scrutiny because its cost has nearly doubled from its original estimate and is now projected at close to $1 billion. Plans were unveiled in 2017, and construction was expected to begin in 2018, but it eventually started much later, in 2021. The Obama Foundation has said the project is privately funded and does not rely on taxpayer dollars. President Donald Trump has also criticized the project and blamed “woke” hiring practices for its issues. It has also triggered a backlash from Chicago locals concerned about families being displaced and its perceived lack of architectural charm.
Who is Allison Davies?
Davis co-founded a law firm called Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Gallard. Obama worked as a junior lawyer for the firm from 1993 to 1996.
As a lawyer, Obama represented Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp, founded by Davis, when it was sued by the City of Chicago over heating failures in one of its apartment complexes.
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