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New York, Chicago, Hawaii Bid For Obama Presidential Library

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- At least six locations in three different states, including New York, entered official bids by Monday's deadline in an effort to house Barack Obama's presidential library.

Columbia University, where Obama got his undergraduate degree, pitched a West Harlem site.

Four of the confirmed bidders are from Chicago, the president's hometown, and a fifth was expected. Obama's birth state of Hawaii also offered an oceanfront location in Honolulu.

While the Obama Foundation, which is planning the library, declined to confirm the bids it has received, planners for the six widely reported potential locations all confirmed they had submitted proposals.

All see the library and museum as a potential driver of economic development. The University of Chicago cited a study it commissioned that concluded the library would draw 800,000 visitors a year and create 1,900 permanent jobs.

The University of Illinois-Chicago also is pitching potential locations on and off campus on the city's West Side.

Hawaii's bid is being led by the University of Hawaii and backed by the state. The library would sit on oceanfront property in Honolulu, but the university said it would be willing to share the library and museum.

Columbia's bid would put the library on its new Manhattanville Campus.

"These ideas will ultimately help us build a library that reflects President Obama's priorities and values throughout his life and career, and makes our whole nation proud," Martin Nesbitt, chair of the foundation, said in a statement.

The Obama Foundation has said it plans to announce a decision in early 2015.

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