Late last month, museum officials sent a letter to the city council, saying they might look to house the 500,000-sf project elsewhere if they can't reach an agreement by the end of June.

The city has donated approximately five acres of the Tacoma Dome parking lots on D Street for construction of the new museum. Estimated costs for the completed project range from $80 to $100 million.

The museum will house the automobile, artifacts and memorabilia collection of Mr. and Mrs. LeMay. The Guinness Book of World Records lists the LeMay collection as the largest private automobile collection in the world.

As for the Cosmos development it is to rise on southwest edge of the Tacoma Dome parking lots. The 1.2 million sf project, would be built over the course of 18 years and include three office buildings, retails shops, condominiums and a hotel.

The city is to exchange two city-owned parking lots for 800 replacement parking spaces during four phases of development. The first phase of development was due to wrap in 2005.