Obama Center Opens While Trade Subs Chase $2M-Plus in Unpaid Change Orders
According to Engineering News-Record, several union trade subcontractors who worked on the $850-million Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago say they have not been paid for change orders and other completed work, even as the project prepares to open its doors to the public on June 19th. The situation is a sharp reminder that a project’s prestige, scale, and public profile offer zero financial protection to the trade contractors who built it.
Background
The Obama Presidential Center, located in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, was delivered by Lakeside Alliance, a joint venture that includes Turner Construction Co. and W.E. O’Neil Construction. According to Engineering News-Record, the project involved multiple structures, thousands of design documents, and hundreds of trade partners and community businesses.
The payment complaints center on change orders that subcontractors say were authorized verbally or through the project’s construction management system under a “price and proceed” arrangement, only for the owner to later deny payment. Adamson Plumbing, based in Addison, Ill., is among the firms speaking out. Michael Owen, president of Adamson, told Engineering News-Record that his company is owed more than $2 million in total, including roughly $450,000 in price-and-proceed change orders. He described one example: a roughly $20,000 change order for bathroom tile replacements caused by dimension discrepancies found during the transition from design to construction. Adamson priced the fix, got the go-ahead, completed the work, and then was denied payment.
Omar Shareef, president of the African American Contractors Association, told Crain’s Chicago Business, as cited by Engineering News-Record, that seven separate subcontractors have contacted him for help pursuing payments in recent months. Most declined to speak on the record, but Engineering News-Record reports they are gathering information and weighing whether to file liens or lawsuits.
Lakeside Alliance, in a statement reported by Engineering News-Record, acknowledged the outstanding issues but characterized them as normal for a project of this complexity. “As with many major construction projects, contractual closeout, including the review and resolution of outstanding invoices, change orders, and other project matters, continues long after the doors open,” the joint venture said. The statement added that Lakeside Alliance remains committed to working through outstanding matters with the trade businesses involved.
Analysis
The Lakeside Alliance statement is technically accurate. Closeout disputes on large, complex projects are common. But “common” does not mean acceptable, and the framing obscures a dynamic that subcontractors in every major market recognize immediately: the further down the payment chain you are, the longer you wait, and the harder you fight.
What makes the Obama Center situation especially instructive is the gap between optics and reality. This was a high-profile, well-funded project with union labor, a sophisticated JV contractor, and intense public scrutiny. And yet subcontractors are still chasing invoices at opening day. If it can happen here, it can happen anywhere.
The “price and proceed” issue is particularly damaging. This is a standard field practice on complex projects. When a contractor’s superintendent or project manager tells a sub to proceed with scope and price it as a change order, that sub has every reasonable expectation of payment. When that approval lives in a construction management system and the work is completed, the paperwork trail should be clear. The fact that multiple subcontractors are being denied payment despite documented authorizations suggests either a breakdown in owner-level approval processes, a dispute about who had authority to authorize the work, or a deliberate closeout strategy that forces subs to negotiate down from what they’re owed. None of those explanations are acceptable to a subcontractor carrying $450,000 in unbilled labor and materials.
The communication breakdown mentioned by subcontractors is also worth noting. When a project owner goes quiet during closeout, that silence is rarely neutral. It usually means someone is deciding how much they actually want to pay, and the subcontractors who pushed hardest for documentation and have the clearest paper trail will fare better than those who relied on handshake approvals.
What It Means for Subcontractors
- Document every verbal approval immediately. Price-and-proceed authorizations need to be confirmed in writing, whether by email, text, or the project’s CMS, before work begins. A superintendent’s word is not a change order.
- Know your lien rights before you mobilize. Illinois, like most states, has statutory deadlines for filing construction liens. The Obama Center is owned by a private nonprofit, which affects lien rights differently than a public building would under Illinois law. Subcontractors waiting to see how closeout plays out can inadvertently let those windows close. Consult legal counsel early, not after the owner stops returning calls.
- High-profile projects carry the same payment risks as any other job. Prestige does not equal protection. Evaluate the owner’s payment history and contract terms with the same rigor you’d apply to any other client, regardless of how visible the project is.
- Trade associations matter in disputes like this. The African American Contractors Association was a first point of contact for at least seven subs here. Industry associations can provide collective leverage, referrals to legal help, and visibility that individual subs cannot generate alone.
- Get legal counsel involved before you file. Several subs are reportedly still weighing whether to file liens or lawsuits. That decision has strategic and contract
