Visitors entering Seymour from the east side will soon be greeted by a much more visually appealing Duke Energy building, a company official says.

The 4,300-square-foot building at 1625 E. Tipton St. is undergoing a facelift and an 8,000-foot expansion that also will make for a more pleasant work environment for employees, said Chip Orben, Duke Energy’s government and community relations manager.

The project, which began in December and is slated to be finished sometime in the third quarter of this year, will nearly double the current office building size of 4,300 square feet, Orben said.

When finished, the new office building located on the west side of the building will feature large, low-energy-use windows, state-of-the-art workstations and new restroom facilities, he said. The expansion area had been a parking lot.

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“It’s much more ergonomically designed for the employees,” Orben said. “You have to put your employees in an environment where they can feel good and move, and opening the building up the way the expansion will does that.”

The original brick-faced office building was built in the 1950s, and its age spurred the company to expand the offices, Orben said.

The office building is facing aging infrastructure issues and issues with meeting present building standards, Orben said.

These issues were examined, and a renovation was considered before ultimately being ruled out in favor of an expansion, he said.

Employees will continue to use the current office building until the expansion project is completed.

A second 12,112-square-foot metal building is attached to the office and serves as a shop. There’s also a third 4,480-square-foot metal storage building, constructed in 1988, on the 7.17-acre site.

The company will continue to use both buildings for its maintenance and service crews.