Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama could bring another Nobel Prize to the University of Chicago.

The school a few blocks from Obama’s family home boasts more than 80 Nobel winners with ties to the campus, where he, his wife and some top advisers worked. Now a recruitment effort is percolating to have the university host the presidential library of the 2009 Peace Prize recipient.

An administration official said the White House has been approached several times by University of Chicago officials. The administration hasn’t engaged on the topic because it’s too soon, the official said.

The head of the University of Chicago said he’s studying the benefits of having a presidential archive and museum associated with the campus.

“We are trying to understand the situation as best we can now,” Robert J. Zimmer said in a telephone interview. “Until the president really wants to talk about it, has some kind of direction that he’s thinking about, we really feel more specific questions are premature.”

Obama, 48, will make the final decision and hasn’t spoken publicly on the topic. White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage declined to comment.

Eric Whitaker, a close friend of Obama, said he asked the president about the library after the inauguration and the response was cool.

No ‘Homage’

“He didn’t know if that would be something he would want to do,” said Whitaker, adding that Obama talked about the possibility of a “virtual” library that would avoid paying “homage” to him.

Obama seemed more interested in some kind of advocacy center, along the lines of what Jimmy Carter has done at the Carter Center in Atlanta, said Whitaker, an executive vice president at the University of Chicago Medical Center. The longtime Obama family friend and basketball buddy noted the numerous tracts of vacant property available on the city’s south side, not far from the campus.

Steven Kloehn, a University of Chicago spokesman, said he was unaware of any formal conversations between the university and the White House about the possibility.

“I know of no contacts on that topic,” he said, adding that there are many people at the White House who have university connections and informal contacts were possible.

Hyde Park Hopes

While the campus in the Hyde Park neighborhood has front- runner status because of its Obama connections, the president could embrace his roots in Hawaii and build his library in Honolulu, where he was born and spent many of his formative years. Advocates for downtown Chicago argue that putting it there would provide proximity to hotels and other tourist destinations.

“It’s a high-visibility thing and it would be great downtown,” said Jim Kutill, a vice president at Appraisal Research Counselors, a Chicago real estate consulting and appraisal company. “I could also see the appeal of putting it in a neighborhood that needs an economic boost.”

The evidence points to the University of Chicago, said Benjamin Hufbauer, a University of Louisville professor and author on presidential libraries.

Obama taught constitutional law at the school from 1992 to 2004; his Kenwood neighborhood home is within walking distance of campus; and his children attended the university’s Lab School before moving to Washington. First lady Michelle Obama was a vice president at the university’s medical center.

University Ties

Senior advisers David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett also have ties. Axelrod left his native New York City to attend the university, while Jarrett is a former member of the school’s board of trustees. Austan Goolsbee, a senior economic adviser to Obama, is on leave from his teaching position at the university’s business school.

Two of the top fundraisers for Obama’s presidential campaign sit on the school’s board: John Rogers, chairman of Ariel Investments LLC, and James Crown, president of Henry Crown & Co.

Having a presidential library in Chicago would be a tourism boost. The city already markets a three-day Hail to the Chief’s Favorites itinerary, including information on Obama hangouts, favorite restaurants and a guide to getting White Sox tickets.

More than 1.7 million people visited presidential libraries in fiscal 2008, according to a National Archives and Records Administration report. Attendance that year ranged from a high of 306,122 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California, to a low of 47,359 at the Jimmy Carter Library & Museum in Atlanta.

Spawning Development

Beyond tourism, the libraries can spawn other development. The William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum’s opening in Little Rock in 2004 was followed by office buildings, hotels and restaurants.

The libraries are built with private money before being turned over to the National Archives for operation. Their cost has grown over the years, reflecting inflation and the increasing grandeur of their designs.

George H.W. Bush’s library in College Station, Texas, took $83 million to build, while Clinton’s required $165 million. George W. Bush’s presidential library, to be located at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, is projected to cost more than $200 million.

The library tradition started with Franklin D. Roosevelt after he surveyed the vast quantity of letters and documents he and his staff had accumulated. Prior to that, many presidential papers were lost, sold for profit or destroyed by poor storage.

Hufbauer, author of “Presidential Temples: How Memorials and Libraries Shape Public Memory,” said there is typically little open talk about libraries during the presidents’ time in office.

That doesn’t mean they aren’t conferring with their closest advisers. He cited President John F. Kennedy’s library in Boston.

“By 1962, he was already well into the planning of it,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: John McCormick in Chicago at jmccormick16@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 26, 2009 11:41 EDT