By JIM GENARO

After 40 years of operating out of rented — and often limiting — spaces, The Health Adventure will soon have a home of its own: Momentum Science and Health Adventure Park.

Officials with The Health Adventure announced plans for the new facility on Sept. 18 outside its current location at Pack Place downtown.

The 10-acre facility, to be located at Catawba and Broadway streets, will feature activities both inside and outside, with a focus on environmental and health education.

Included in plans for the $25 million project are an elaborate tree house and a pedal-powered monorail that visitors can take to the various outdoor activities throughout the park.

“We are embarking on our journey home to the very first place we can call home,” The Health Adventure President and CEO Paige Johnson said.

While specific details about a timeline for the project were not given, Johnson said that the starting date for construction would be announced Dec. 31, when The Health Adventure celebrates its 40th anniversary.

More than 1.6 million visitors have come to The Health Adventure since its inception.

The organization, which promotes health and science education for children, first began operating in 1967 out of a renovated closet in the basement of Mission Hospitals.

Since that time, it has been housed at several other locations, including an abandoned gymnasium, a log cabin, the Mountain Area Health Education Center, and most recently, Pack Place where it has been since 1992.

Throughout this time, the facility has been limited by a lack of adequate room to operate, according to Pam Turner, Momentum’s Capital Campaign Co-Chair.

“We are great in spite of our facility,” Turner said. “It’s hard to talk about the environment and make it hands-on when you’re inside a building.”

Momentum’s focus on promoting environmental awareness will also apply to its construction, according to Johnson. She noted that “green building policies will be utilized as much as possible ... Nothing cookie-cutter will do.”

Mike Konzan, vice president of PGAV Destination Consulting, which is developing the facility, concurred, saying that Momentum will be a model for green development, which will “demonstrate the right way to build on a site like this.”

Konzan also said that the facility will be uniquely “of this region.” Momentum will be the type of center “that could only have existed here and draws all of its spirit from this place.”

The Health Adventure hopes the park also will be a boon to the local tourism industry. Board member Chris Cavanaugh said the organization is “very enthusiastic about what this means for the toursim in Western North Carolina.”

He noted that some preliminary studies indicate the park will result in an additional 212 room-nights per year in local hotels and will “further help us establish the family-travel market.”

Among the donations the project has received are $1.5 million in funds from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority.

However, the project still has a long way to go toward its goal of $25 million. So far, only about $10 million have been raised.

Still, organizers remain optimistic. When pressed about a timeline, Konzen said he hopes to begin construction early next summer.