FORT SMITH (KFSM) — It’s been seven years since fundraising began for the US Marshal’s Museum, but construction still hasn’t started. Some peo...

FORT SMITH (KFSM) -- It's been seven years since fundraising began for the US Marshal’s Museum, but construction still hasn't started. Some people are wondering if it will ever be built.

This week board members with the museum announced the original architects have been rehired to finalize the building design, but why has the process taken so long?

Alice Alt, the vice president of development for the museum, said one of the reasons is the sheer size of the project.

“To build and institution of this caliber, it's going to take a couple of minutes,” Alt said. “We only get one chance to do this right.”

The last time contractors and architects made cost estimates, in 2009, the approximate total was around $50 million. Now, the board expects the cost to be slightly higher.

Jim Dunn, the president and CEO of the museum, said trying to raise more than $50 million has been one of the biggest challenges.

“We have to deal with reality, and the reality is that fund raising takes a long time,” Dunn said. “I cannot walk up to someone and say would you give us $5 million?'

So was taking on a project this large during a recession more than the city could handle?

'”That's a good question, and I think the answer to that is we undertook this not because it was easy but because it was difficult and because it was worthwhile,” Dunn said. “I don't think we bit off too much, but we bit off a lot.”

According to the museum's website they've raised nearly $29 million, but they still need $32 million more.

“We're cautiously optimistic that our status will improve considerably particularly now that we're going to be able to go to the next step, the next level with the architectural plans being complete sometime this calendar year,” Dunn said.

But, Dunn added that they still need to raise $20 million before they start building, and even though it's taken seven years to raise almost $29 million, Dunn said they still plan to open their doors in 2018.

“Had the economy been in great shape, we'd be further along than we are, but I’m still very pleased with the money that we've raised, in the length of time that we've raised, under the conditions, so yes, I think we're making great progress, and I think we'll continue to,” Dunn said.