Construction is set to begin Tuesday on the Obama Presidential Center on the South Side of Chicago, where the former president spent his formative years and where former First Lady Michelle Obama was born and raised.

The 44th president previewed the $500 million project in an exclusive interview with ABC News (watch above).

“The young person who’s growing up across the street or down the block or a few miles away, now suddenly has a place where concerts and speeches and debates and forums are taking place that they can access,” Barack Obama told ABC’s Robin Roberts.

But several community groups have expressed opposition to the facility, fearing it will spur gentrification in the largely Black neighborhood and result in environmental damage. Several lawsuits have been filed to stop the project, but all have failed.

Protect Our Parks, a group behind one of the legal challenges, released a statement  bemoaning “the devastation of the initial clear-cutting of the mature trees and the destruction of the Women’s Garden in Jackson Park, in addition to the long-term environmental and public health dangers that will ensue.”

But Obama insists locals are excited about the project.

“The overwhelming majority of the community has been not just OK with it, but are hugely enthusiastic about it,” Obama said, adding that he’s “absolutely confident” that the center will benefit the surrounding area.

“If they want to bring about change in their neighborhoods, they’ve got resources and people who can teach them how to do that effectively. And they’re going to be able to see themselves as part of that change in a way that, so often, they don’t feel right now,” Obama said.

More from ABC News:

The Obama Presidential Center, which will honor the legacy of the first Black president, will include a library, museum, gardens, and a children’s playground. Organizers say it will seek to bring investments and jobs to the community.

“The Obama Presidential Center will connect the economy of the South Side of Chicago with the rest of the city, creating new jobs and opportunities. It will breathe new life into a park that has long been protected and loved, but underused. And it will uphold our commitment to this vibrant community,” according to the Obama Foundation, which is funding the project.

“There will be, at the top, an incredible room where people can look out over the Chicago landscape. We’ll have a branch of the Chicago Library here. We’ll have classrooms and recording studios, where young people can learn how to tell their stories,” Obama added.

Roughly 5,000 jobs are expected to be created by the project, and two African American-owned firms have been contracted to work on the site, according to a local ABC affiliate.

“We’ve set an extraordinarily high bar in terms of making sure that the people in these communities benefit. And we want to make sure that we’re hiring people from the community,” Obama explained.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot will join the former first family at the groundbreaking ceremony, set for 1:15 p.m. CT Tuesday.