The reports of the National Public Housing Museum’s death have been greatly exaggerated. And, if everything goes according to plan, the museum would be fully open to the public by 2013.

The museum has been under discussion since the late 1990s, but it didn’t make the news until December 2007, when the National Public Housing Museum was established as a nonprofit organization. The notion of a museum dedicated to all the facets of the public housing experience quickly caught national attention.

The museum board wanted to open a permanent facility inside the building that was built as part of the James Addams Homes, one of Chicago’s four original public housing developments. It was built in 1938 on 1322 W. Taylor St., in what was then part of Little Italy. By 2007, Chicago Housing Authority demolished all but one building to make way for mixed-income housing. After prolonged negotiations, CHA agreed to lease the remaining building the National Public Housing Museum in 2008.

Since then, there has been little to no information about the project’s progress. The museum’s website is still being updated, but it contains no recent information on when the museum would open. This caused many Chicagoans to wonder when the project will be completed, or even if it would be completed at all.

Keith Magee, president and CEO of the National Public Housing Museum, assured Chicago Journal that the project is moving right along. The funding has been lined up, and they’re ready to proceed with construction.

“We are currently working on finalizing the design details,” he said. “We should have it ready by early March.”

Thanks to the abandonment and decades of uneven maintenance, the building needs to be rehabilitated. It would also need to be expanded to fit all of the museum’s needs. So the museum hired the Chicago-based Landon Bone Baker Architects to handle the design. The description on the museum’s website indicates that new sections would be added in front and to the east of the building, wrapping around it like a semi-transparent, distinctly modern-styled shell.

Magee emphasized that the design would remain similar to the rendering, but a few details will change. Those details have not been finalized at the time of the interview. Magee did mention that it would include exhibits, research spaces and a library. The ground level would have a “living room” with a small coffee shop and a bookstore.

Once the construction is complete, the museum would open gradually, with more and more exhibits opening to the public over the course of 18 months. The exhibits will cover the history of the public housing in Chicago, both in the city in general and in Jane Addams Homes in particular. They show how public housing fit into the American immigrant experience, what role it plays in the American society and how it continues to change and evolve to this day. The exhibits would draw heavily on accounts and artifacts collected from current and former public housing residents.

Magee emphasized that public housing is more complex and multi-faceted than many people realize, and the museum will reflect that.

Magee hopes that they would be able to open the museum by the end of 2012 and have it fully operational in 2013-2014. However, he was quick to point out that construction cannot begin until the city approves the plans, so any deadlines are tentative.

Traditionally, aldermen have considerable leeway over building projects that takes place. Under the current ward boundaries, Jane Addams Homes is located in the 2nd Ward. Alderman Bob Fioretti has expressed support for the museum on several occasions, and he says his position hasn’t changed. And even though the museum would be remapped out of his ward once the new ward boundaries take full effect in 2015, Fioretti said that he is still interested in the project’s progress and that he will continue to support the museum in the future.

In the meantime, the museum continues to hold a variety of events, including exhibitions, book signings and conferences to advance the museum’s goals and promote the museum in the run-up to its opening.

As the design comes close to being finalized, Magee is optimistic about the museum’s prospects. There’s never been a museum like this before, he said, and Magee strongly believes that it has something unique to say about public housing. He feels that the message would find a receptive audience.

“The response from the community has been positive,” he said. “It’s exciting to be here. We are excited to be part of Little Italy.”