Another new business is opening this spring at Andover’s Heritage development

Empower Physical Therapy has experienced what owner Addison Nichols called “exponential growth” since he purchased the almost 20-year-old business in 2024.

He added a west Wichita office for a total of four branches, including the original in Newton and one in Hesston, and now he’s doubling the size of his Andover office with a move to the Heritage development.

Nichols, who has worked at the business since 2015, said he’s almost doubled his staff since acquiring the businesses and now serves about 700 patients a week.

He said a move from 338 S. Andover Road has been coming for some time as “we are outgrowing our current space.”

The new office will be in a freestanding building at 826 E. Founders Parkway next to Andover Family Optometry.

“It’s going to be a prime location . . . over the next couple of decades,” Nichols said.

The building is under construction, but he said it’s coming together well.

“They did a great job of modernizing the structure without taking the soul out of it.”

Nichols said it “looks elegant and attractive” and like a “place you’d want to walk into.”

He said his businesses are physical therapy 2.0, meaning a lot of practices are physical therapy 1.0 and are more like bandages for physical issues rather than real change.

For him, Nichols said, physical therapy is about getting “down to the patient’s why.”

Instead of simply asking what’s wrong, he asks why a patient needs help. Maybe it’s because someone can no longer go on walks or pick up a grandchild.

“We try to get away from generic exercises,” Nichols said. “We provide value that’s worth paying for. . . . We make it feel like the dollars you spent were worth it.”

The new space will be ready sometime in mid-to-late May and celebrate a grand opening in June.

Craig Ablah of Classic Real Estate and Joe Verbeckmoes of Benchmark Real Estate Group represented the landlord, and Jared Neidert of JPAR-Leading Edge represented Nichols.

“What I want to do is grow at the speed of cash and build onto the current locations we have,” Nichols said.

That means he doesn’t want to take on debt. After the new Andover office, Nichols said he’d like to expand within the communities where he already has offices, and he wants it to happen naturally.

“We’re just going to grow organically.”