Will it open soon?

It may open next year. That's the sentiment from state Rep. Earl Jones, a founder and a board member of the organization Sit-in Movement Inc., the nonprofit guiding the restoration of the long-awaited International Civil Rights Center & Museum downtown.

The organization is about to receive roughly $10 million needed to finish the project, according to the News & Record.

An excerpt:

It is not certain the renovations will be complete by Feb. 1, 2010 — the 50th anniversary of the sit-ins — but “that’s the goal,” Jones said.

“I’m pretty confident,” he said of the group’s ability to meet that goal.

Jones said the key piece of the puzzle is $7 million to $8 million soon flowing to the project through federal tax credits.

That money is controlled by the National Trust Community Investment Corp., a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Trust spokeswoman Corinne Ingrassia could not confirm an amount for her agency’s participation.

But she said $7 million to $8 million would not be out of the question for a project of the museum’s scope.

“I know we definitely have made the commitment to invest in the Civil Rights Museum,” said Ingrassia, the trust’s marketing director.

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It is my hope that this project can conclude and that the museum can open. It has truly been a long-time coming.

E.C. :)