DREMC opens new administrative building

Duck River Electric Membership Corp. moved administrative offices into its new $2 million headquarters this weekend, but local DREMC customers will continue to pay bills, start or end service, or take care of other business at the main building on Madison Street.

The administrative building, at the corner of Eagle Boulevard and Learning Way, won't be used for customer business and will have only modest signage, said DREMC operations director Michael Watson. DREMC, based in Shelbyville, is a multi-county, member-owned electric cooperative. The existing DREMC building, built in 1964, will serve as the Shelbyville district office, while the new administrative building will serve as the headquarters for the entire DREMC system.

"It's going to be a great facility," said Watson on Friday as crews moved offices into the new building.

The new 10,580-square-foot building, designed by Davis Stokes Collaborative and built by Romach Inc., will take care of space problems. Watson said the Madison Street building "is still a great building -- it's just full." Storage rooms had been pressed into space as offices.

Last year, Watson said the cooperative's membership had tripled since the building first opened.

The new building makes efficient use of DREMC's stock in trade; it has a geothermal heat pump, said Watson, and the walls are built to R45 insulation standards.