The Obama Center Death Star is not only an affront to the senses, those running the center still haven’t paid subcontractors what they are owed. A plumbing business has now shut down because they haven’t been paid.

Weeks after the Obama Presidential Center’s star-studded opening in Chicago, a subcontractor who previously claimed his company was stiffed for nearly $4 million has shut down operations and laid off 25 union workers.

Mike Owen, the owner of Chicago-based Adamson Plumbing Contractors, told Fox News Digital that the financial fallout forced the company to abandon about half a dozen other construction jobs and left it on the verge of collapse. Owen described the shutdown as a painful decision he believed was necessary to save the company from bankruptcy.

“Laying off close to 30 people is something that no owner in our industry wants to do,” Owen said. “It’s a hard thing to do, especially when you know you can finish them and the company can still make money. But we were put in a pretty bad corner.”

How bad is it? Nearly $4 million dollars bad. That’s what Adamson Plumbing is owed. That’s just ONE company. 

Keep in mind, as Carol wrote here, this grandiose ode to the egos of Barack and Michelle Obama was supposed to uplift, enlighten, and provide jobs to many. Except for the contractors and their employees who worked on the Death Star building. As we all know, the Center (NOT a library mind you) went millions over budget. One would think that a great deal of that additional $500+ million would’ve gone towards paying the subcontractors. Right? Evidently not. 

Even before the Center opened with great fanfare and pandering celebrities, news was circulating that a great many people were owed money.

Meanwhile Obama's Presidential Center,

"So many of our black contractors are complaining they have not got their money. A lot of the black community and newspapers do not know."
pic.twitter.com/ZzagSVvzAW

— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) June 15, 2026

A LOT of money. 

African American Contractors Association president Omar Shareef said that a total of seven separate subcontractors have contacted him for help with pursuing missing payments in the past several months, according to Crain’s. Some of the contractors are owed seven figures. They’re willing to settle for less, as long as they can keep their businesses running.

“It’s to the point that they wished they had never done (the project),” Shareef told the outlet.

The delays and skyrocketing costs were caused in part by the pandemic and in part by a half-decade legal battle. By the time the groundbreaking ceremony was held in 2021, the cost was pegged at $830 million. The center will finally open on next Friday, the Juneteenth holiday, and the public will gain access to the work of roughly 475 subcontractors, according to the outlet.

Some of the struggles with contractors have been out in the open for months. A spat between Thornton Tomasetti and Obama Center subcontractor II in One spilled over into a $40 million federal lawsuit that saw the black-owned II in One file a lawsuit against Thornton for alleged false claims and racial discrimination. Thornton is the firm managing structural engineering and design services for the development. According to the publication, there are other subcontractors engaging with legal counsel to resolve payment disputes.

And now, Adamson Plumbing has had to shut down. 

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.

~Snip

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.

That payment was SUPPOSED to be paid by no later than early June. Well before the Obamas ‘look at MEEEEE!!!’ grand opening. The funds didn’t arrive until after July 1st. 

Supposedly the Obamas aren’t involved in the day to day operations of the Center, even though Obama was the one who pushed for the Death Star design. The Foundation is. The CEO is Valerie Jarrett. One would think that the board wouldn’t like publicity like this, nor liens against the Center and would be jumping through hoops to get these contractors paid. 

But it seems that radio silence is the name of the game. Which leaves these companies twisting in the wind. 

Hope and change, right?!?! A plumbing subcontractor on the Obama Presidential Center just SHUT DOWN and laid off 25 workers after a nearly $4 million payment fight.

Mike Owen, owner of Adamson Plumbing, said the company had to abandon other jobs and is now fighting for survival.… pic.twitter.com/Luzr1C1mkW

— Blue Lives Matter (@bluelivesmtr) July 23, 2026

Lots of hope. Much change. Which, once again leaves ordinary citizens getting the shaft by the Obamas. 

Well, Valerie Jarrett is doing her best to keep the Foundation out of it. Their claim is that Lakeside Alliance is the group responsible for getting everyone paid, while bragging that the Foundation set a 15-day payment cycle in place. 

Ok, I’ll bite. If these companies were paid on time, how come so many, including Adamson Plumbing have receipts showing they… HAVEN’T been paid? Where’s the money? 

What’s Valerie’s salary?? Well golly gee, $740,000 a year plus benefits is quite the perk! The Foundation board and executive team is netting six figure incomes while Mike Owen had to lay off 30 employees, and even he is now looking for work.

Something darkly hilarious about Obama making a big deal about using small minority owned union contractors to build the Obama Center, only to now stiff them on the bill so it’s now putting small minority owned union contractors out of business pic.twitter.com/r4EHZ5Em7k

— Enguerrand VII de Coucy (@ingelramdecoucy) July 23, 2026

Yes indeed. Mr. Hope and Change himself along with his merry band of cronies are making bank while the workers get the shaft.

Feature Photo Credit: Obama Presidential Center via iStock, cropped and modified