(KAIR)--Energy-provider Evergy has opened it's new Atchison Service Center, with the about 15-thousand-square foot building occupying 12 acres at 2103 Main Street.
The new facility opened Wednesday.

A release from Evergy explains that the new center "allows the company to efficiently store and secure their materials at one site," adding that "having all the materials, vehicles and employees at one site will improve communication, coordination and outage response times for the community."
Ryan Mulvany, Evergy Vice President, Distribution, in the release, says that "with one centralized location to keep material and equipment needed for service and outage response, [Evergy] will be able to provide better customer service to Atchison and surrounding communities," adding that the company is "excited about some of the technology that was used in this project to make the facility more sustainable and energy efficient."

According to the release, the building includes an "associated service yard and vehicle parking for company and employee vehicles," with the additional space to "allow for improved organization and safer travel and loading and unloading of material." The site also features two acres of fenced storage with room to expand.

Technology was also incorporated in the construction of the enclosed storage and maintenance bays - they are heated with water-based efficient heat pumps through floor piping, which keeps the heat in the insulated concrete mass of the floor and lets far less heat escape into the air and open doors.

Future plans include adding electric vehicle charging stations and solar power to the building. 

Construction began in Spring 2022 and was completed last month.