President, Michelle huddle 5 hours Sunday on Obama Center design

WASHINGTON — Days after announcing the architects for their Obama Center in Chicago, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle on Sunday met for more than five hours with Obama Foundation staff at an office near the White House to discuss the project.

According to the pool report, White House staff said, “they are meeting with Obama Foundation staff to discuss designs for the new Obama presidential center and to get other updates.” The Obamas’ motorcade arrived at a downtown location at 11:06 a.m. and departed at 4:20 p.m., according to pool reports.

Neither the White House nor the foundation would say on Sunday whether the meeting also included the newly appointed architecture team for the building, which will include a library, museum, space for programs and offices for the Obama Foundation.

There are still a series of major appointments to be made as the first couple have to decide whether to locate it in Jackson Park or Washington Park, both on the South Side.

While the foundation will manage the design and construction of the Center — and raise the money to build and endow it — a project management team still has to be named. The foundation said that eventually, between 15 and 20 other firms, in addition to the architects, will be hired to handle various speciality aspects related to the design.

Martin Nesbitt, chairman of the Obama Foundation, played golf with Obama at a course in suburban Maryland on Saturday. Former White House chef and Chicago native Sam Kass was among the foursome. Kass also is the former executive director of Let’s Move! and senior policy adviser for nutrition policy, tapped by Michelle Obama for her signature initiative.

On Thursday, the foundation announced that the husband-and-wife New York firm of Tod Williams Billie Tsien bested an international field of architecture stars to win the commission to design the Obama Center.

Williams and Tsien will lead the design effort with Dina Griffin, president of Interactive Design Architects at 308 W. Erie, who was added as a partner apparently to make sure a Chicago firm was in the mix for the massive project.