Athletic and Rehabilitation Center to open behind Best Buy near Kellogg and Dugan

WICHITA — Overland Park-based Athletic and Rehabilitation Center is opening its 11th center, this time in Wichita.

“Frankly, we should have had it opened a year ago, but we struggled to find talent,” says Brian Stewart, chief marketing and acquisition officer.

Stewart says employers, insurance companies, case management firms and physicians have been asking the company to come here.

“We are a healthy workforce company that does a lot of things related to injured workers,” he says. “We have been asked for the last couple of years to look at Wichita as a potential growth center.”

That includes physical and occupational therapy, work conditioning, functional testing, on-site services and wellness programming.

The company is taking 5,000 square feet in a new building at 6803 W. Taft, which is behind the Best Buy near Kellogg and Dugan.

Stewart expects to open in early January.

A Springfield, Mo., clinic opened in October. There are also seven of the clinics in the greater Kansas City area, one in St. Joseph, Mo., and one in Topeka.

The west-side Athletic and Rehabilitation Center isn’t likely to be the only one in Wichita, Stewart says.

“If the opportunity presents itself, we’d love to have two or three clinics.”

Stewart anticipates finding more space won’t be an issue.

“The real estate market down here is super aggressive,” he says. “There are a lot of people who are hungry to have business in Wichita.”