After 16 months of planning and construction, Evergy now has a brand new facility in Emporia.
City and county leadership, Evergy representatives and even state lawmakers all gathered together Tuesday morning to officially open the doors of the new service center at 683 Road 180. The morning included speeches, tours of the facility and the official ribbon cutting.
Among those to speak was District Services Manager Rolland Trahoon II who noted the new facility brings all of Evergy’s local resources under one roof, a luxury not previously afforded with its former longtime center at 220 Mechanic. Trahoon tells KVOE News the consolidation will mean more efficiency for the entire community.
Emporia City Engineer Jim Ubert has been a part of the project since initial conversations began back in 2019. Ubert says not only does the new center mean increased efficiency for Evergy, but the project also has allowed the city to update much of its own infrastructure thanks to partnerships with the Kansas Department of Transportation.
Also in attendance for Monday’s event was 60th District Representative and former Evergy, then Westar, employee Mark Schreiber of Emporia. Schreiber says the new center’s location in Emporia shows Evergy’s recognition of the “growth pattern” across the state and Emporia’s position in that.
Lyon County Commission Chairman Rollie Martin says not only is the new center a great addition for Emporia it will also be a great benefit to the smaller surrounding communities within Lyon County.
Evergy broke ground on the new service center back in April of 2022. During the final stages of construction, the company had to combat several bouts of severe storm activity that delayed progress, however, Trahoon says resiliency is a vore value of the Evergy model and resiliency saw them through to the finished product.
The new center more than doubles the size of the previous facility on Mechanic which served as the utility’s main hub in Emporia since the early 1970s.
