Burnett said he had hoped to use the school to jump-start mixed-income housing development around the former Cabrini-Green site near Goose Island. But the alderman said he was willing to get on board with the plan because of the uncertainty of the Obama Prep development, which Emanuel announced in 2014 to great fanfare before finding the project criticized because of the lack of selective enrollment high schools in the South Side neighborhoods where Obama did much of his work as a community organizer.