Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says every aspect explored proves the wisdom of moving the Agency’s regional headquarters to Lenexa, Kansas.
Administrator Lisa Jackson took part in dedicating the building that is designed to meet LEED Gold Standards.
Earlier this year the EPA moved from the Kansas City, Kansas complex that was built to federal specifications in 1999.
The General Services Administration, citing inability to renegotiate the lease, directed the move to the renovated Applebee’s main office in Lenexa, saying it will save $22.5 million over 20 years.
Some 650 people will work in the building.
Jackson said the current lease is longer, the building smaller, adding, “You have to look at the whole package. It’s rent, it’s cost of moving, it’s the cost of energy,” she said. "It’s the cost to run the building and it’s the cost of commuting. And on all those factors, and I think some of us were a little surprised internally, this turned out to be the better deal.”
EPA maintains a laboratory in Kansas City, Kansas.
The former headquarters remains vacant.
