WASHINGTON — Former President Barack Obama’s presidential center will move another step closer to its brick-and-mortar future next week when ground is broken after years of reviews, other delays and continued local opposition.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, will join Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in Chicago on Tuesday for a groundbreaking ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center.

“Michelle and I could not be more excited to break ground on the Obama Presidential Center in the community that we love,” the former president says, seated beside his wife, in a video announcement shared first with The Associated Press.

The former president in 2016 chose a site in a historic lakefront park on the South Side of Chicago to build his presidential library, near where he began his political career, met and married his wife and lived with their family.