HUSQVARNA CONTINUES OPERATION
October 16 -- Not much has changed for Husqvarna Turf Care Company since the lawnmower manufacturer announced it would be closing its Beatrice location and merging business to South Carolina in May.
The Swedish company said the consolidation would streamline its business.
Husqvarna spokesperson Beth Wiseman said the plant closure date is tentatively set for Dec. 31, 2010.
“A few employees may remain until mid-January, 2011 to close down the building,” Wiseman wrote in an email to the Daily Sun.
Wiseman said the employment level at the plant has not fluctuated much since the announcement of the closing and more than 300 people are still employed.
Over the next few months, Husqvarna will begin to reduce its workforce, culminating in the Dec. 31 closing.
“To date, we have only laid off two employees,” Wiseman wrote. “Several employees resigned having found employment with other companies in the area.”
Further reductions in the workforce are scheduled for Oct. 29, Dec. 9 and Dec. 31.
Wiseman said some employees, including hourly, professional and management have accepted positions within Husqvarna in Charlotte, N.C. and Orangeburg, S.C., site of Husqvarna’s U.S. headquarters.
Beginning in mid-December, Husqvarna will remove its equipment and machinery from the plant.
“We plan to begin packing up equipment for shipment during the week of December 13, 2010,” Wiseman wrote.
Currently, once Husqvarna leaves Beatrice, there are no other companies lined up to move into the 274,000 sq. feet facility located just off U.S. Highway 77 in north Beatrice.
John DeHardt, managing principal of Kessinger Hunter, the owner of the Husqvarna building, said he has had one “lukewarm” lead on a company interested in leasing the building.
“We’re holding out hope on one unnamed company that would be a manufacturer,” DeHardt said in a phone interview Monday.
DeHardt said he is optimistic a company would seize opportunity to set up shop in Beatrice.
“Unfortunately, no one has immediately come forward, but we have every hope that we will secure a quality firm that wants to set up business in Beatrice,” he said.
In addition to Kessinger Hunter, a Husqvarna brokerage firm has also been marketing the building to sublease to companies needing factory space.
DeHardt said Husqvarna has 4.5 years remaining on its lease of the facility, and both Kessinger Hunter and the City of Beatrice hope to secure another company to fill the building.
“Both of us would like to see a major manufacturing presence in that building and I have a fair degree of optimism we will succeed in securing a company in the not too distant future,” DeHardt said. “It’s a great facility and more importantly a great local workforce.”
“A combination of those two should be a great way to attract new business,” he added.
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