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GREENSBORO — Money remains an issue at the planned International Civil Rights Center and Museum as another year passes without a monument to a critical moment in Greensboro history.

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Besieged by construction and fundraising delays, the landmark to recognize the effort of four N.C. A&T freshmen who battled segregation in 1960 doesn't have a projected completion date. Organizers say their commitment hasn't waned even though they say they need

$10 million to finish it.

"It's going to be a centerpiece for downtown," said Melvin "Skip" Alston, a county commissioner who along with state Rep. Earl Jones secured the building in 1993 when the Woolworth company decided to close the store. The nonprofit Sit-In Movement purchased the building with the hopes of turning it into a museum that would draw people from around the world.

The event in Greensboro, in the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., reignited the civil rights movement.

"It's going to escalate the traffic, it's going to escalate tourism," Alston said.

The group will get an infusion of cash Thursday, when Oscar-nominated actress Cicely Tyson receives the Sit-In Movement's top award at its $100-a-seat annual awards dinner. Tyson is scheduled to attend.

"That was a very easy choice," Alston said of Tyson's selection. "She has longevity in the civil rights struggle — not so much her marching, but over her distinguished career she has brought to audiences, around the world, some of the most graphic and moving portrayals of the struggles that marked our nation's civil rights movement."

As for now, the building remains an idled construction zone on the 48th anniversary of Feb. 1, 1960. That's the day the four college freshmen sat down at the five-and-dime lunch counter — a section of which is on display at the Smithsonian Museum and at the Greensboro Historical Museum.

The project has endured setbacks and controversies, including a 2007 state audit that said the museum didn't keep adequate records and planned some purchases poorly. The audit reviewed the nonprofit's use of $2 million in state grants. Museum officials contested the findings.

A water leak discovered in 2004 exposed costly damage to the building's foundation.

Work behind the scenes includes the application for a historic tax credit that could net the group more than $6 million. Another $2 million could come from discussions with corporations and businesses.

"I am encouraged and excited about the feedback that we are getting," said Amelia Parker, executive director of the museum. "I think people understand we have an extraordinary asset in our downtown."

Eisterhold and Associates, the Kansas City firm hired to tell the story of the segregated lunch counter's dismantling here, has worked on the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, Ala., and the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn.

Plans include a re-creation of the Greensboro railway station's "Colored Only" facility and its whites-only restrooms and water fountains.

When construction begins again, Alston said, the museum could take 10 months to complete.

Contact Nancy H. McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com