More than a month after Gov. George Pataki announced that $3 million from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. will assure the opening of a new home for the Millennium High School at 75 Broad Street in September, construction of the school space had yet to begin, no architect had been hired and no lease had even been signed.

Despite the lack of visible progress, education officials and community leaders publicly maintained late last month that the school would be ready by September, even if the schedule is extremely tight. Privately, though, some doubted whether there was enough time to design and build the school in the Broad Street building.

“It’s going to be a hard row to hoe to get it open in September,” said Paul Hovitz, chair of of Community Board 1’s Youth and Education Committee. “I’m being told that we’re getting to the drop-dead deadline, and if we don’t get work started, it’s probably not going to get done in time. I’m rather surprised at this point that there’s not a lease signed.”

Roy Moskowitz, spokesman and counsel for School District 2, whom the Department of Education has called the point man in negotations to move the school into 75 Broad Street, did not return phone calls seeking comment late last month.

But according to Hovitz, who had discussed the situation with Moskowitz, the Department of Education will not sign the lease until it knows exactly what the interior construction will cost. Several architectural firms drew up plans and submitted costs estimates last month, but no firm was selected, and the cost analysis had not been finalized.

“We have all the things in place to start, but we’re dealing with the Department of Education and the School Construction Authority, and they’re not used to dealing in expedited fashion,” said Madelyn Wils, chairwoman of Community Board 1, which has been deeply involved in the effort to secure funding for the school and bring it Downtown. “There’s considerable pressure on the Department of Education to get moving now.”

Asked why she believed the school would be ready to open in September despite the delays, she said, “Because I’m an optimist.”

The Broad Street building was identified late last year as the site for Millennium’s home, and representatives of the Department of Education, School District 2 and CB1 have been consulting with JEMB Realty, the building’s owner and manager, for at least eight months about the school plans. People involved with the project have said that the owners were eager to bring the school in.

The governor’s funding announcement in April appeared to pave the way for the lease to be signed and for work on the school to get started, but delays have persisted.

Executives at JEMB Realty did not return calls seeking comment.

Millennium, with 97 ninth- graders, has spent its first year in the High School for Art and Design building at Second Avenue and 57th Street. Millennium students and eighth- graders who plan to attend the school, and their parents, have been told since last fall that it will definitely be at 75 Broad Street in September, and some said that they chose the school largely because it was to be Downtown.

“If for whatever reason it’s not going to happen, I think we have a responsibility to let them know,” Hovitz said.

But Robert Rhodes, Millennium’s principal, said that few parents had raised concerns about the issue recently and that it had not come up in interviews with prospective teachers.

In addition to the LMDC money, more than $3 million has been raised for Millennium from private sources, including $1.7 million from the National Football League Foundation, $1 million from Goldman Sachs and $500,000 from the New York Stock Exchange, according to Wils. Councilman Alan Gerson has committed $1 million and State Assemblymembers Sheldon Silver and Deborah Glick have promised another $2 million.

It is estimated that $10 to 12 million is needed for the school, but officials will probably only contruct space for two grades for September, and finish the work later. District 2 has not discussed contingency plans in case 75 Broad Street is not ready.