Alabama Power’s former business office in Montevallo has found new life as the University of Montevallo’s Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences.

More than 100 people recently commemorated the reopening of the 20,000-square-foot facility that will have 17 offices for faculty and seven classrooms.

In 2008, the company ended its 32-year lease of the building, which opened on Main Street in 1976.

The renovation was coordinated by the Montevallo Development Cooperative District, which consists of the university, the city of Montevallo and Shelby County government officials.

Montevallo Mayor Ben McCrory said the cooperative began planning to buy the building from its Clanton owners in 2010. The building is expected to bring about 800 students to downtown each day.

While Alabama Power never owned the building, it was constructed to company specifications and was “cutting edge” at the time in its use of solar panels to provide heating, water heating and about 15 percent of cooling. The solar installation, with collectors made in Millbrook, was partially funded through a U.S. Department of Energy grant.

In May 2008, Alabama Power executed a lease for a new business office in Calera. Employees and offices were moved to the new building. After the Montevallo office closed, Alabama Power provided resources for building improvements and acquired ownership rights to a small part of the property that holds a communications tower.

Alabama Power and the Alabama Power Foundation have long been involved in supporting community institutions in and around Montevallo, including the university, Leadership Shelby County, whose offices are located at the university, and American Village. Another former company facility now houses the community’s recycling center.