Obama's records went to a political friend's unsecured.empty furniture warehouse that NARA was given offices in.
Obama's furniture warehouse has easy access to from the street, one could say there is no gate and truck could pull right up to the loading dock without being stopped.
are you ever not wrong...
“The Obama Foundation agrees to transfer up to three million three hundred thousand dollars ($3,300,000) to the National Archives Trust Fund (NATF) to support the move of classified and unclassified Obama Presidential records and artifacts from Hoffman Estates to NARA-controlled facilities that conform to the agency’s archival storage standards for such records and artifacts, and for the modification of such spaces.”
The Hoffman Estates facility once stored classified records, “in an appropriately secured compartment within the facility,” according to NARA. But since the Obama Presidential Library will be digital (
www.obamalibrary.gov/about-us) (
www.obama.org/obama-archives/), the agency transferred Obama classified records to another facility maintained by NARA in Washington, DC.
Approximately 30 million pages of unclassified records were moved to the Chicago facility, also administered exclusively by NARA, and remain there according to the agency.
In another statement, NARA detailed that The Obama Foundation did provide them with funds “to help convert the Hoffman Estates facility to cover some of the expenses of moving the classified records, but the foundation has never had possession or control over the records.”
THE LOCATION
It is true that the Hoffman Estates facility in Chicago, Illinois (
here) was previously a furniture store (
here) (
goo.gl/maps/PBCiLAU2FNdGTDYUA) (see Yelp entry:
here) – as some online posts claim.
Back in 2016, outlets like The Chicago Tribune (
here) and The Daily Herald (
here) reported on the future use of the facility, stating the materials would be held there until the Barack Obama Presidential Center was completed. Both reports mention that workers from NARA would handle the records. While the initial leasing agreement was set for six years, it has been extended until 2026, The Daily Herald reported on Aug. 3, 2022 (
here)