Investment firm Fintech Global Inc. said Tuesday it will build a Moomin-themed amusement park in Saitama Prefecture, with plans to open the facility in 2017.

According to the Tokyo-based company, it will be the first such theme park outside Finland, the homeland of the beloved characters.

The roughly 187,000-sq.-meter amusement park, called Metsa, or forest in Finnish, will be built on a lakeside park purchased from Seibu Railway Co. at a total cost of ¥600 million ($4.9 million).

Located at Lake Miyazawa in Hanno, the theme park will consist of a Moomin zone, where visitors can enjoy the storybook world of the Moomins through attractions, and a public zone, an area maintained as a park that is free to enter.

The company had sought to open the theme park in 2015 but met delays as it faced difficulties finding a proper site.