After more than a decade and a half of planning and controversy, work began Thursday on the long-stalled, $150 million memorial to Dwight D. Eisenhower with a groundbreaking at the four-acre site in Washington DC.

The memorial to the former president and World War II general will be built on Independence Avenue at the base of Capitol Hill in front of the Department of Education Building and close to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

Construction is expected to last about three years. “Dedication of the memorial is envisioned for the 75th Anniversary of V-E Day, May 8, 2020,” the Eisenhower Memorial Commission said in a statement.