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 The buildings have stood for decades, the changes have
been anticipated for months, and the demolition took a day…well, a day
for one building and a couple of days for others.
Schoodic Education and Research Center, once a Navy installation and
now a National Park Service Research Learning Center, is undergoing a
transformation that will make its facilities more accessible,
functional and green.
The plan for change is ambitious, but it is moving forward as
scheduled, despite the weather and the surprises that construction
projects often bring. Right now, two teams are working on
the major projects: Ganneston Construction (Augusta) has begun updating
and expanding Schooner Commons (our main dining facility), while
Soderberg Co. Inc. (Caribou) is tackling the demolition of fourteen
buildings, including the old barracks, pictured at right.
The gymnasium was the first major demolition, beginning in
mid-January. It was awe-inspiring to watch the excavator appear to
"chomp" sections of cinderblock and corrugated steel, tugging and
twisting like some mechanized predator shaking morsels free. We
also observed, as the roof came off, that there were no pieces of insulation
board or fiberglass batting to be seen. It was suddenly clear why
the building once consumed more than 9,000 gallons of fuel oil a year. Piles of rubble have been carted away and open spaces created.
As we write this, demolition continues on the former barracks and
galley. Also scheduled for demolition are the two-story
former administration and garage buildings that flank the Rockefeller
Building.
 The renovation work going on at
the Schooner Club was has removed the bar, straightened out an awkward
hallway and significantly expanded one of the dining areas, pushing it
out some twenty feet. These changes will make this space more
adaptable to a variety of functions while still keeping the rustic
charm of log walls and field stone fireplace.
Over the coming months roads will be removed and relocated.
Pedestrian walkways will replace roads in the central part of the
campus. We will create a grass "quad" in place of the parking lot
between the old chapel (now Eliot Hall) and the old children's
development center and bowling alley (Dorr Hall).
This summer, substantial remodeling will begin on Eliot Hall
(formerly the chapel), turning it into a flexible classroom facility
to support the Schoodic Education Adventure, our on campus program for
middle school students. The former medical/dental building, now
renamed as George M. Wright Hall, will undergo a major renovation so
that it can serve as a teaching laboratory facility to support college
programs and on-campus researchers.
While all of this work on buildings is underway, we will also renew
much of the campus infrastructure, reconfiguring the water system on
campus, replacing lighting, and more.
Thanks to a gift from Edith R. Dixon, we will also be able to
remodel the campus' signature Rockefeller Building and put it back into
service.
Projected completion of all of this work is scheduled for sometime
during the summer of 2011. At that time, we will have substantially completed
the conversion from a retired military base to a campus equipped to
support the research and education functions that are its new
mission. Back in 2002, as the Navy left, it was difficult to
conceive of how -- and even IF -- such a conversion could be
accomplished. Those of us working here on the private, non-profit
side of this operation at Acadia Partners tip our hats to our partners
in the Park Service. What they have done is very difficult --
working long hours in a competitive funding environment. We are
working with the "A-team" here at Acadia.
Executive Director Bill Zoellick and SERC Coordinator June
Devisfruto are available to answer questions about the renovation and
construction projects. You can reach Bill at 288-1328.
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