The University of Maryland, College Park announced Wednesday that it has agreed to purchase a shuttered production plant in College Park owned by The Washington Post for about $12 million. The college says it would use the plant, approximately 300,000 square feet on 18.5 acres, to relocate services such as a bus depot it currently houses on the east side of campus, the site of a planned redevelopment project that includes housing for graduate students, retail space and a hotel. The college had wanted to move those services near Comcast Center, but students protested the proposed bulldozing of a 9-acre wooded area. "We were very excited when The Washington Post made this critical space available," Ann G. Wylie, vice president for administrative affairs, said in a news release. The state's Board of Public Works must approve the purchase, which will be discussed at its meeting Feb. 10.