Five years after the U.S. Congress passed the act that funded the project, the new maintenance building at Maine's Acadia National Park is nearing completion.
Located at Acadia's headquarters on Eagle Lake Road in Bar Harbor, Maine, the new facility will replace an old structure that no longer meets current building codes. It was originally built in the 1930s before being expanded in the 1960s.
Work on the modern 32,000-sq.-ft. building, along with a handful of associated outbuildings, began in the spring of 2023 and is expected to wrap up in fall 2025, according to an Aug. 4, 2025, report in the Bangor Daily News.
For years, Acadia and other National Park Service (NPS) properties struggled with limited funding that resulted in maintenance being neglected and projects being deferred. This remained the case even as visitation to the park jumped significantly in 2016, when both Acadia and the park service celebrated their 100th anniversaries.
In 2020, to address the maintenance backlog at the NPS, Congress passed the Great American Outdoors Act, which designated $12 billion in funding for park service building and upkeep efforts, including funds for various Acadia projects like the new maintenance building, which was projected to cost around $30 million.
Kevin Schneider, the coastal Maine park's superintendent, told the Daily News on Aug. 1 that he did not have an updated cost estimate for the project, but added that since the funding act was passed, both construction costs and the number of people who visit Acadia each year have risen sharply.
Removing ledge at the building site ended up being more time-consuming and expensive than expected, he said, but the new maintenance facility is expected to meet Acadia's needs for several decades.
"The park's visitation has changed dramatically and building requirements also have changed significantly" since the prior maintenance building was constructed decades ago, said Schneider.
New Facility to Upgrade Service Throughout the Park
Schneider described the new facility as "a modern building that will last 100 years."
At approximately 400 ft. long and 90 ft. wide, the new structure will primarily house shop space for carpentry, welding, plumbing, electrical, masonry and painting projects, in addition to room for vehicle maintenance, washing bays and space for the trails crew and other maintenance workers to store and tune their equipment and tools.
In addition, the facility was designed to include offices and desk work spaces for intermittent users, small conference rooms and storage for cleaning and restroom supplies. Lockers for employees and volunteers, along with showers, modern IT network facilities and a large conference room that can accommodate up to 100 people also will be available.
Outside the main entrance of the maintenance building will be a landscaped courtyard area with a large overhanging roof under which is enough space for gatherings, the Bangor news source noted.
More than 100 new parking spaces — often in short supply at the park headquarters — and a new septic system to serve the entire campus also are due to be ready by the end of 2025.
Jason Flynn, Acadia's project manager for the building's construction, said that with the new facilities, the national park hopes to get longer usage out of its equipment, vehicles and tools that may not have been maintained as well due to the limited resources available at the existing maintenance structure.
The older building will be demolished and removed after the new facility is completed, according to Flynn.
Although the new building will not be open to park visitors, he said it is expected to upgrade services throughout the 49,000-acre park. He compared it to a restaurant, where a properly designed and equipped kitchen helps to improve the dining experience in the front of the house.
"The back of your house needs to be dialed in," Flynn told the Daily News.
Schneider said that it was great to be close to completing and moving into the new maintenance building at the fifth anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act on Aug. 4, but noted that there are more capital improvement projects that Acadia still needs to pursue.
If Congress were to approve the America the Beautiful Act, as proposed by current Maine U.S. Sen. and former Gov. Angus King, the park likely would seek funding from the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund for a new Jordan Pond House, according to Schneider.
That structure currently houses a restaurant and gift shop and is a heavily visited site in Acadia National Park. Much like the older maintenance building, though, it also has outlived its expected lifespan after serving park visitors since its construction in 1982, he said.
