Bar Harbor Times
FOA to purchase Acadia Gateway Center property
October 18, 2007
TRENTON—The Acadia Gateway Center is one step closer to reality. After Friends of Acadia exercised its option last Friday to buy the 369-acre Crippens Creek property in Trenton that is designated as the future site of the Acadia Gateway Center. The organization will close on the property by December 31.
Friends of Acadia will purchase the property from Nacoochee Corporation for an undisclosed amount, and will sell approximately 150 acres to the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) to carry forward the construction of the Acadia Gateway Center. The center is slated to include a welcome center and space for Acadia National Park, and a bus maintenance facility and office for Downeast Transportation, Inc., the non-profit organization operating the popular, propane-powered Island Explorer bus system.
The Acadia Gateway Center completes the original vision for the Island Explorer system, reducing the number of individual vehicles on the roadways in the Mount Desert Island region while allowing more visitors to access MDI and Acadia in an environmentally-friendly way. The center will allow visitors to park and board the bus in Trenton and explore MDI without a vehicle. Friends of Acadia has been a partner from the very beginning with MDOT, Acadia National Park, Downeast Transportation and others to create the Island Explorer bus system in several phases.
“The Acadia Gateway Center was part of the original vision for the system, and Friends of Acadia had the unique ability to act quickly to secure the land by option, giving partners time to do the research necessary to determine if this would be the best site available for the facility,” said Marla O’Byrne, president of Friends of Acadia. “As the philanthropic partner of this system, Friends of Acadia has been integral in bringing the necessary partners to the table to create and expand the Island Explorer bus system.”
“The Acadia Gateway Center will be a wonderful addition to the Island Explorer, serving visitors to Acadia National Park and residents of the surrounding communities,” commented Sheridan Steele, superintendent of Acadia National Park. “We are pleased that Friends of Acadia could help with the purchase of this land in order to move this important project ahead.”
As planning of the Acadia Gateway Center moves forward, Friends will continue to work with MDOT, Acadia National Park and Downeast Transportation to design a world-class welcome center to represent the park, the Island Explorer and the region.
Now that the land purchase is certain, Friends of Acadia is beginning conversations with potential long-term owners of the remaining acreage, which will be protected from further development.
“Friends of Acadia will offer assistance in the planning and construction of trails to benefit the year-round community and visitors,” said Ms. O’Byrne.
The land acquisition was funded by major donors T.A. Cox, Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Butler and the Thomas H. Maren Foundation. Funds were also contributed through Friends’ Project Tranquility, an effort to reduce traffic and restore the quiet character of Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island.
The Acadia Gateway Center is the third phase of the Island Explorer bus system, which Friends of Acadia funds annually through grants from L.L.Bean. In its ninth season, the Island Explorer has broken seasonal and daily ridership records and has transported more than 2.5 million passengers since its inception in 1999.
“The Island Explorer is the largest transportation system in the state and right now it doesn’t have a home,” said Paul Murphy, director of Downeast Transportation, Inc. “We are grateful to Friends of Acadia and its leadership for its long-awaited, highly-anticipated and much-appreciated decision to purchase the land and hopefully bring us closer to having a home.”
