L.L. Bean officials and members of the Lower Flying Point community will join on Friday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new Paddling Center overlooking Casco Bay.

Part of the company’s Discovery Center, which has four locations in town, the wooden, two-story, Paddling Center will contain showers, changing rooms, registration rooms and storage. Old buildings adjacent to the new building are being torn down, and company employees hurried last week to get items such as kayak paddles labeled and sent to the new building.

Company spokesman Mac McKeever said that L.L. Bean is streamlining operations at the Paddling Center.

“It’s important to note that this is not a program expansion, it’s an improvement,” McKeever said. “We’re empowering people to go out and enjoy the outdoors and doing it in a very respectful way.”

Visitors to the Paddling Center can kayak, canoe, learn to fly cast, camp out and hike. There is a camping program for children, as well.

Bean plans to have the new facility in use this week.

“We’ll do course and tour welcomes, paper work, safety briefings, then people will get changed and get their equipment,” said Gretchen Ostherr, senior manager for Outdoor Discovery Schools. “They come in here and go out and do their thing, paddling.”

The Paddling Center will be open from May through October. Though camping is available, most visitors are there on a day trip, Ostherr said. The center typically attracts up to 50 people on a summer day, she said.

McKeever said that people on kayaks or canoes get expert instruction on paddling in a pristine setting.

“This cove offers a great protection from the elements,” McKeever said, “but once you get beyond here, it’s a jaw-dropping location, even by Maine standards. I would say more than anything, it’s about our people and instruction.”

McKeever said that L.L. Bean has about 60 employees in its Discovery Program in and around Freeport, which also includes sites at Wolfe Neck, Desert Road and the L.L. Bean Retail Store itself.

“This is certainly our most beautiful spot, though,” he said.

The center is LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design), meaning it has passed a green building certification program.

McKeever said he has heard little complaints recently, following some initial concerns from neighbors about the level of activity the new Paddling Center might generate.

“This building is doing nothing more than replacing the existing structures, and add a nominal amount of square footage,” he said. “Before we bought this property, this was a 45-site campground. We’ve been very good neighbors to the Lower Flying Point community.”

Peter Bergh, in his 14th year as an L.L. Bean guide, stands on the new paddling center dock overlooking Casco Bay, on Lower Flying Point.