Berklee College of Music has acquired the contentious parcel at 2 Charlesgate West on the eastern end of the Fenway, the school’s president announced last week, citing a need for more space on campus.

The parcel was sold to local developer Samuels & Associates just two months ago at a foreclosure auction, after the British developer that was planning to transform it into a 28-story apartment complex filed for bankruptcy on the project.

Samuels bought the parcel at the foreclosure auction in October for $28.1 million and flipped it to Berklee last month.

A Samuels spokesperson confirmed that it had been an even transaction.

“As a developer and place maker with more than 25 years redeveloping underutilized sites across the city, the 2 Charlesgate parcel has long been of interest to our team,” Samuels co-president Peter Sougarides said in a statement.

“When we took advantage of the unique opportunity to purchase this property at auction, we were aware that Berklee, a tenant in one of our buildings, might have interest in the space. Together, we determined that the best option going forward was for Berklee to purchase the property. We look forward to future collaboration with Berklee.”

According to Berklee President Jim Lucchese’s announcement of the sale, Berklee had in fact been trying to buy the property for 20 years because of its “strategic value.”

“The need for more space here on the Boston campus was the most commonly cited challenge facing Berklee,” Lucchese wrote in the announcement to students. “Those conversations drove a sense of urgency to secure additional space.”

The property sits on Ipswich Street, adjacent to the Back Bay Fens and the Muddy River and steps away from the Massachusetts Turnpike. It’s also across a small back alley from Berklee’s Boston Conservatory. Currently, the land is occupied by the vacant, eight-story, 56,000-square-foot Trans National Group office building. It has been vacant since the Trans National shut down its headquarters there in 2012.

British developer Scape purchased the parcel for $39 million in 2019, with plans to build a high-rise residential tower. That plan faced significant community opposition from people who were worried how a high-rise would affect the health of the Back Bay Fens due to excessive shadows. But the development plan eventually was approved, and when Samuels acquired the property earlier this fall, it also got the rights to the plan.

Scape also made a $300,000 community benefit commitment to Fenway Forward (FF), a nonprofit affordable housing developer in the neighborhood. Richard Giordano, the organization’s senior advisor for special projects, wrote to a number of elected representatives last week that “It looks like we have to worry about [that commitment],” and that FF had planned meetings with both Samuels and Berklee to discuss it this week. The results of those meetings have not been publicly announced.

It’s unclear if Berklee wants to redevelop the property, potentially as “future collaboration” with Samuels, or simply refurbish the existing space. The college has yet to announce any formal plans for the space. One person with knowledge of the matter said that Berklee leadership wanted to inform students as soon as possible when the deal closed, as more space had been a major point of discussion, but that it was still working out the details of what to do with the purchase.