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GREENSBORO — Work to restore downtown’s historic Woolworth’s building as the International Civil Rights Center and Museum is making steady progress with major construction scheduled for completion in about three months.

But that only signals the beginning of fast-paced efforts to install exhibits and ready the interior for its debut next year on the 50th anniversary of the sit-ins that gave the building worldwide fame, the project’s executive director said Tuesday.

“Things are going fast now, which is good,” Amelia Parker said before remarks to a group of young professionals at the O. Henry Hotel.

Work on the exhibits and other interior features will keep project staff busy right up to the deadline preparing for the opening weekend starting Jan. 30, she said.

Scheduled events include a gala, 50th anniversary celebration that Saturday, followed Jan. 31 by an ecumenical religious service, and the ribbon-cutting and grand opening on Feb. 1.

The grand opening will be 50 years to the day from when four N.C. A&T freshmen — Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, David Richmond, and Jibreel Khazan (then known as Ezell Blair Jr.) — began the sit-ins by asking for a cup of coffee at what was then Woolworth’s whites-only lunch counter.

Parker spoke at a dinner meeting hosted by Action Greensboro for about 40 young professionals, part of the civic group’s “Making Connections Around the Table” series.

“This is our story about how this city changed this nation,” she told the group before presenting a video tour of what the building and exhibits will look like. “It was a simple request for a cup of coffee that was ignored.”

The project dates back to the mid-1990s as Woolworth’s was about to close its retail store, placing the building in jeopardy of demolition.

Instead, the building was preserved through the efforts of Melvin “Skip” Alston, now chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, and state Rep. Earl Jones.

But it took more than 15 years to get the project to near completion, including an overly optimistic announcement that the project would open several years ago.

Instead the project stalled when costly, unforeseen structural problems were discovered in the 80-year-old building.

In her after-dinner remarks, Parker told the group that the project’s sometimes difficult history in itself carried an uplifting message.

“There have been enormous challenges that this project has faced,” she said. “But there was a dream that said, 'This corner cannot be turned into a parking lot.’ ”

After its opening next year, the museum will be a magnet, drawing visitors from across the nation and throughout the world, she said.

Because the building has been carefully restored, it will qualify as an International Site of Conscience, a designation for museums commemorating important human or civil rights events, Parker said.

Contact Taft Wireback at 373-7100 or taft.wireback@news-record.com.