From Staff Reports

UNC Asheville will end up with the property in Montford that was once planned to be the new location of The Health Adventure, the school announced Dec. 15.

UNCA has no immediate plans for the 8.9 acres and school officials said it could be two to four years before any decision on its use is decided.

The school is in the process of updating its campus master plan to include the site.

The UNC Asheville Foundation stated that it will buy the property at Broadway and Catawba streets in what the school described as a combination sale/gift. In essence, it will pay less than market value for the property.

“This combined gift/sale helps assure a bright future for UNC Asheville, and we are grateful to TD Bank for creating this opportunity and providing a great example of how to be community-minded,” UNCA Chancellor Anne Ponder said.

Given that UNCA does not have much vacant, flat land available for expansion or other building needs, university officials said the land acquisition was an opportunity too good to miss.

“It is exceedingly rare for a large parcel of land adjacent to campus to come on the market,” Chuck Wood, chairman of the UNC Asheville Foundation, said. “The UNC Asheville Foundation is very pleased to be able to secure the property for the university.”

Terms of the transaction will not be released until after the sale closes, which is expected to be in February.

The foundation, the school’s charitable arm, will transfer the property ot the school later. No state funds or student fees will be used for the purchase, UNCA officials said.

Property owner TD Bank bought the property in November after it foreclosed on a $1.8 million loan The Health Adventure had taken out on the tract. At the time, a bank official had said that the bank would resell the property.

The Health Adventure had spent $8 million on planning and infrastructure to locate a new museum — to be called Momentum — on the property, breaking ground for it in 2008. Howevever, it eventually abandoned the $25 million project because of financial problems. The Health Adventure filed for bankruptcy in April.

Meanwhile, UNCA officials said they expect to allow a city greenway — that parallels Broadway Street. along Reeds Creek, to the south of the tract — to extend through the property.

A greenway now runs along W.T. Weaver Boulevard on the south side of the UNCA campus, so the Montford tract segment would link the campus’ greenway to the city’s along Broadway, connecting the school to downtown via the footpath.

In addition, Karen Cragnolin, RiverLink executive director, stated, “RiverLink is excited about the opportunity to partner with UNC Asheville and the community to develop a greenway along the property, with an eye to eventually expanding and linking the UNC Asheville campus to the Wilma Dykeman RiverWay along the French Broad River and downtown.”

UNCA, which has an enrollment of 3,665 students (up 3.9 percent since 2007), projects moderate growth for the future.

About 4.2 percent of its students live on campus and demand for on-campus housing usually exceeds supply.

The school eventually would like for half of its students to live on campus, UNCA officials said.