WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Purdue University plans to acquire a church that has held services across from the memorial union since 1939.

Joe Hornett of the Purdue Research Foundation tells the Journal & Courier the university's real estate arm is paying $2.4 million for University Church. The deal is scheduled to close May 1.

The congregation will lease the sanctuary for a year to allow it time to find a new home.

Hornett says the Presbyterian Church's Synod of Lincoln Trails put the church on the market last year.

He says there are no definite plans for how to use the structure once that lease and scheduled weddings are over. One possibility might be to use the building as temporary space while other campus offices are renovated.