SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A proposed aviation museum in southwest Missouri is a step closer after developers reached a preliminary agreement to buy the land where they intend to build the project.

The $50 million "Legacy of Flight" museum is slated to go on 40 acres of ground at the intersection of U.S. 65 and Interstate 44.

"We moved the project forward," said Wayne Kruger, deputy director and chief financial officer of the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum, the agency leading the development. "We now need to finalize the details."

Officials still don't have a date set for the final land agreement and groundbreaking of the museum, but they expect the museum to open in 2003.

The next step is for architects to complete the design. Last month the project was scaled back from 325,000 square feet to 125,000 square feet in size and from $120 million to approximately $50 million in cost.

BKD, a Springfield-based accounting firm, is completing a feasibility study that will be used to secure financing.