WINTER HARBOR – Since the Schoodic Education and Research Center, or SERC, took over a former U.S. Navy base in this picturesque coastal town in 2002, the center has done little to improve those facilities.

That’s about to change.

SERC has commenced a $3 million project to construct a 6,800-square-foot, 125-seat auditorium on the existing foundation of the base’s former commissary building.

The center, located in the Schoodic Point section of Acadia National Park, is one of 16 such research centers nationwide facilitated by a National Park Service initiative to improve science-based understanding of park resources.

The center’s coordinator said Wednesday that the renovations will bring SERC to a whole new level.

“This [project] will turn a pleasant but quaint facility into a state-of-the-art one, complete with all the high-tech capacity that people expect these days,” said Jim McKenna, who was hired in January 2005 to head the SERC facility. “This is a very important step and it’s something that right now is lacking on the campus.”

The project’s funding will come from a collaboration of the Department of Defense Office of Economic Adjustment, the state of Maine, and entrance fee revenues from Acadia National Park.

The facility is operated by Acadia Partners, a nonprofit arm of Acadia National Park.

“We help in finding sources of funding for research and educational programs and promote a broader focus for the region,” explained Denny O’Brien, Acadia Partners executive director.

“This is a incredibly gorgeous facility that can be a resource for the entire region to do training or to host seminars and retreats.”

The center’s current capacity for functions is about 60. The new auditorium will double that number and the building will include two break-out meeting rooms that will hold about 100 more.

The auditorium, which has been contracted to P&S Construction of Lowell, Mass., is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The center already offers a variety of programs, workshops and retreats, including the Schoodic Education Adventure Program, an overnight retreat offered to middle school pupils.

McKenna predicted the new auditorium would more than double the number of students the facility can accommodate but said SERC has even bigger ambitions.

“We’re looking at a variety of programming events, but our ultimate goal is to develop a series of partnerships with various other agencies who share a compatible interest,” he said.

The SERC campus has several other buildings, including housing and dining facilities, but the new auditorium should serve as a centerpiece to what is already there, O’Brien said.

“We already have enough room to sleep and feed 125 people, and soon there will be a place for that many to actually meet,” he said.

Winter Harbor Town Manager Roger Barto said last week that the new facility could help breathe life into the town’s economy, which sees business typically only during a small window in the summertime.