A privately owned property that is surrounded by Acadia National Park has been acquired by a not-for-profit group that plans to develop it into seasonal park staff housing.
The 4-acre property has been owned for decades by the Rockefeller family, which has been instrumental in the park since its creation more than 100 years ago. Friends of Acadia, a nonprofit, completed a purchase of the property on Friday from Seal Harbor Properties, a holding firm controlled by the Rockefellers. The price of the sale was not disclosed.
The plans for the property, located on Jordan Pond Road near where Stanley Brook and Park Loop roads meet, are among several projects on Mount Desert Island at increasing the amount of housing for staff. Affordable housing on MDI has been increasingly hard to find as demand and housing costs on the island have escalated in recent years, forcing many people who work on the island to commute a half-hour or more to their jobs.
The housing shortage has made it hard for Acadia, and other local employers on MDI, to fill positions. In 2022, a year after visitation to the park soared, the park could only fill 116 of its 165 seasonal staff positions because there wasn’t enough housing available.
“The park suffers, like many other organizations, from a crisis in affordable housing,” said Neva Goodwin, daughter of late billionaire David Rockefeller Sr. and managing partner of the family-controlled company that sold the parcel. “Seal Harbor Properties is very happy to assist in a transaction that will address a small part of the need.”
Eric Stiles, FOA’s president, told park officials on Monday that the group expects to break ground next spring at the site. There will be a primary residence with five bedrooms and a smaller accessory building with three bedrooms, providing housing for eight people.
The property has been used for decades as a gravel pit and is directly adjacent to Mount Desert municipal water and sewer systems, Stiles said. It will be built to park environmental standards, with solar panels planned for the roof. It should last for 60 years without major improvements.
“This is a huge step forward in our efforts to support the seasonal staff that keeps Acadia National Park running,” said Kevin Schneider, superintendent of the park.
Earlier this year, Friends of Acadia acquired an inn in Southwest Harbor for nearly $1.3 million that it is using as housing for 10 Acadia employees.
The park itself is looking at developing additional seasonal employee housing, in partnership with other organizations at a site on Crooked Road in Bar Harbor, and also at its Harden Farm site near Kebo Valley Golf Course, where it has eight aging one-bedroom apartments that would be replaced with enough housing for roughly 30 employees.
