The public will get its first look at the final architectural designs for the much-anticipated National Underground Railroad Freedom Center next week.

        The unveiling will be held Nov. 29 at a press conference at the Westin Hotel downtown. The event is open to the public.

        Groundbreaking for the downtown Cincinnati center's garage will be in January, followed about a year later by construction of the facility. The freedom center is expected to open in spring 2004.

IF YOU GO

What: The unveiling of the architectural design of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.     When: 3 p.m. Nov. 29.     Where: The Westin Hotel, 21 E. Fifth St., downtown.

        The presentation will include a small-scale model of the center, which will be built in the riverfront area between Vine and Walnut streets.

        “This brings it from idea to the first stage of reality,” center President and chief executive officer Edwin J. Rigaud said Tuesday. “We're terribly excited. This is a long-awaited moment.”

        It is a design born, in part, from public input.

        Throughout group forums held during the early stages of planning, one idea kept coming up: space for events, most notably weddings.

        “They see it as a public space,” Mr. Rigaud said, “and we've always viewed it that way.”

        In October, a U.S. Department of the Interior bill that will funnel $6 million for construction of the center passed the U.S. House by a vote of 348-69.

        That brings to $16 million the amount authorized from Interior, in addition to $2 million from the Department of Education.

        Also last month, the second annual “Walk As One” to benefit the center attracted 2,500 to 3,000 people to downtown, more than twice as many who attended the initial fund-raising walk.

        Of the $60 million raised to date, $34 million has come from individuals such as the “Walk as One” participants, as well as corporations and foundations.

        In other the freedom center news, the board at its Thursday meeting appointed Dr. John Fleming as chairman of the new National History Scholars Review Panel.
       

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