Sammamish City Council unanimously approved a $6.1 million purchase of the abandoned Mars Hill Church at the Tuesday meeting, after spending more than an hour in executive session.

The council authorized the purchase stipulating it be used for higher education. The city already has a letter of interest from Cascadia College, Bellevue College and the Lake Washington Institute of Technology.

The 22.4-acre property is located at 120 228th Ave. NE, surrounded by Eastlake High School, Eastside Catholic School and Skyline High School. The property was originally valued at $8.75 million and allows for 330 parking stalls. It also features a two-story building of 30,762 square feet that includes a full-sized basketball court.

City manager Ben Yazici entered into property negotiations a month ago.

“We have the resources,” Yazici said. “These opportunities do not come very often.”

Funds will come from the city’s reserves. No new taxes will be required.

Per the agreement, the city will pay $150,000 in earnest money by March 20.

There will be a 45-day feasibility period and an appraisal process before the Mars Hill purchase moves forward.

The letter of interest from the colleges are non binding. Should they decide not to lease space from the city, Yazici is confident other educational entities would be interested in the space.

The rare opportunity to establish a higher education hub between the three Sammamish high schools was a dream come true, council member Kathleen Huckabay said.

Creating an opportunity to provide a space for Sammamish graduates, adults or teachers to further their education was something the council had been looking at for a while.

Ideally, community colleges would rent space within the existing building to host classes.

The city will have to renovate some of the office spaces to classrooms. They expect to get 15, 1,000-square-foot classrooms out of the building.

While many of the council members rejoiced Tuesday night and congratulated each other’s efforts, council member Ramiro Valderrama-Aramayo named some concerns.

He tried to amend the purchase to include a clause that stipulated, if the city was unsuccessful in establishing the higher education hub after a year, the property should be put back on the market.

The motion failed.

The major concern for Valderrama-Aramayo comes back to the money.

“There are a ton of major projects we’re committed to. … No one has a real grasp of that long-term debt,” he said.

The city has taken on many financial obligations, but Mayor Tom Vance said the city still has very little debt. The city is paying for this in cash, he said. Vance was unsure as to what debt Valderrama-Aramayo is concerned about.

The Mars Hill Church is a disbanded religious organization that rapidly expanded across the Pacific Northwest.

The organization moved into Sammamish in 2012 taking ownership of a building originally built by the Evergreen Christian Fellowship in 2009.