At the April 14, 2008 board of education meeting, the board approved the purchase of 84.1 acres of farmland from St. John AME Church for the construction of Metea Valley High School. The district had previously planned to purchase a portion of St. John's parcel (49 acres) and combine it with 37 acres from a second seller, Midwest Generation. With Midwest Generation deciding not to sell on April 10th, it left the district without enough land to build the school.

St. John's decision to sell its entire parcel means construction can move forward with the school still scheduled to open in August 2009. St. John's price of $225,000 per acre is significantly less than the $518,250 price per acre for the Brach-Brodie land.

Testing Service Corporation (TSC) performed a Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment on the entire 84.1 acres. A study was done for St. John on the 35 acres the church was going to retain and a separate report was done on the 49 acres the district intended to purchase. Phase 1 studies showed the land was used as a farmstead which predated 1908. TSC reported "no environmental issues have been identified associated with the agricultural usage of the property." The company also reported "based on available information, regulatory status, local clayey geology and intervening distances, none of the off-site facilities is considered a threat to have impacted the site." TSC concluded "this assessment has revealed no evidence of recognized environmental conditions in connection with the property." Similar to the Brach-Brodie land, this parcel was used for farming with no indication of environmental issues; therefore TSC did not find it necessary to conduct further testing.