Staff file photo by Sam Yu The Banner School in Frederick has secured a permanent home. The school will acquire the three buildings it occupies. Purchase this photo

But it isn't a new home. The school's board of trustees announced Thursday that it has reached an agreement to buy about seven acres on the North Market Street campus of the Odd Fellows Home. The school will acquire the three buildings it occupies, and enough land for athletic fields, playgrounds, a new gymnasium and more parking.

"We've looked at five, six, seven different possibilities over the past few years," interim head of school Doug Hart said Thursday. "So this is a pretty exciting day for us."

The news comes at the end of a long, rough time. Banner's plans to build a new school in Walkersville were scuttled when the town's commissioners did not approve a zoning exemption for the construction project. In February, the school lost a member of its family when employee John Miller died of injuries suffered in an on-the-job fall. That same week, the trustees fired head of school Leslie H. McLean.

Trustee Mark Forseth said the opportunity to buy the Odd Fellows land is great news for Banner.

He would not disclose the price. The purchase is dependent upon the City of Frederick 's approval of a subdivision, totaling about 50 acres owned by the Odd Fellows.

Settlement is expected in late 2012. That time frame should enable the school to reinvigorate its capital campaign and increase its enrollment, Forseth said. It should also be sufficient for the city to approve the division of the property.

Forseth said the school's board had taken several runs at acquiring the Odd Fellows land in the past, without success.

"It's very fortuitous with what's going on with the economy to be able to do this," he said.

Canterbury Station LLC, an affiliate of the Duffie Cos., a Silver Spring-based developer, holds the rights to purchase the land from the Odd Fellows, dependent upon city approval of its plans. A preliminary subdivision plan for 546 units has been approved, according to Shane Pollin, director of development for Duffie.

"We'll submit a revised subdivision plan that would remove the units originally planned for that parcel of land," Pollin said. "We're backing away from our right to buy that portion, allowing the school to buy it from the Odd Fellows."

Forseth and Pollin called the agreement a win-win for everyone involved.

They said it gives a popular private school a permanent home, it preserves historic buildings and gives them new purpose, it preserves more green space and reduces the number of houses being built by about 120.

Hart is excited about the room for growth and the chance to establish roots in Frederick .

While the school had planned to continue expanding its Collegiate School for grades nine through 12, those plans have been put on hold, according to Hart.

The pre-K-8 school added ninth grade this year, with the plan to add a grade each year until the high school was at full speed.

The board voted about a month ago to discontinue the school, and concentrate on the product it has produced for the last 25 years.

"We'll probably come back to that someday," Hart said. "But we want to do it with a little more thought and planning, and we want to make sure we have all the infrastructure in place before we try it again."

For now, the school community looks forward to a May 15 celebration, at which time it will officially claim the site as its own and honor school founder Elinor Miller.

"We needed a sense of stability and this gives us that," Hart said. "We don't have to worry about where we're going to be next year."