Mars Hill Church has announced it is currently under contract to purchase the First Congregational Church building in Tacoma.

According to Mars Hill Church’s Web site, the congregation plans to raise $1.5 million and renovate the building before opening it as Mars Hill Tacoma in fall 2013. The Tacoma church will be led by Pastor Bubba Jennings, who served as a pastor for almost a decade at the original Ballard church before moving to the South Sound region to get the Tacoma church going.

According to Mars Hill’s Web site, the church will hold a public ‘vision and prayer night’ on Thurs., Sept. 27, to dedicate the church building.

“It gives us great joy to know that the building on the corner of Division and South J Street will not be turned into a parking lot, but rather remain a church for another 100-plus years,” said Pastor Jennings in a statement posted on Mars Hill’s Web site.

The building, located at 918 Division Ave., originally opened its doors on Oct. 11, 1908 and was used as a dormitory during World War II to house and feed soldiers, according to Historic Tacoma. In the 1960s, it was home to Tacoma’s first food bank.

More information is online here.