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Earthpark Executive Director David Oman said Pella was chosen for its community support and the area's ambiance.

"It's a very entrepreneurial place," he said. "They have an understanding of tourism and are comfortable with tourism."

Pella was selected over Riverside as the home for the 3.5-acre indoor rain forest that will have a 600,000-gallon aquarium and exterior wetland and prairie exhibits.

Tiffin and Coralville were among 16 communities vying for the project early this year. Coralville had been the apparent home for the project for about five years, until December 2005. Project leaders and local leaders couldn't agree on a land transfer, which ended plans.

Sixteen of the 20 Earthpark board members were present for Thursday's meeting; 12 voted for Pella, three voted for Riverside, and one member did not vote. Andrew Whalley, the project's architect, said he immediately was taken with the 70-acre site along Lake Red Rock. Whalley also designed The Eden Project in Cornwall, England, a rain forest project that leaders have said is similar to Earthpark plans.

"Pella is a very special place," he said.

Pella leaders said they are excited to move forward with the project.

"On behalf of our community and our city, we are elated," Pella Mayor Darrell Dobernecker said.

Oman said some of the board had concerns with an environmental project being built next to the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort.

"That was an issue in the minds of some," he said.

Casino CEO Dan Kehl had supported the project in Riverside with a $2 million gift from his family, $10 million from the casino over the next 10 years and 100 acres of land. Riverside's additional financing would have been $8 million over the next 10 years from the Washington County Riverboat Foundation and revenue from a hotel/motel tax.

The rain forest and the casino would have been good together, Kehl said.

"Obviously, we are disappointed," he said. "We were looking forward to having Earthpark here and complementing our business."

Riverside Mayor Bill Poch said he reacted to the news with some relief. The city submitted questions to Earthpark in early September, and he said this may have hurt Riverside's chances of getting the project.

"(The Riverside City Council) was trying to move forward slowly and methodically. We weren't at the point of decision-making," he said. "(The board's selection) may have been because of a little indecision on the part of the council."

Kehl said he will decide later what to do with the 100 acres meant for the project.

"We'll review our options for the land and decide what we are going to do, if anything, with the site," he said.

Earthpark will be funded by a mixture of federal, state and local money as well as debt financing, which Oman said will be no more than 10 percent of the project's budget. Pella must raise $25 million to receive state grant money.

Earthpark and Pella officials were not clear Thursday about where Pella's contribution would come from. Some financing could come from hotel/motel tax revenue.

"Specifics on financing today are hard to come by," Pella's project spokesman Eric Woolsen said.

Before Thursday, Earthpark officials said Pella and Riverside had met or exceeded the $25 million contribution.

The project estimates 1 million visitors a year, a number that could decrease slightly in Pella, Oman said.

"The numbers would probably be somewhat less than they would be right along I-80," he said.

Earthpark leaders promise 400 to 500 construction jobs over two-and-a-half years, 150 permanent jobs and an economic impact of $130 million annually.

It is scheduled to open in the 2009-2010 school year. Earthpark officials were not sure Thursday when construction would begin.