Chris Dunker, www.journalstar.com
December 15 - The future of Husqvarna's plant building in Beatrice remains a mystery, with operations scheduled to cease over the next month.
The Swedish lawnmower manufacturer announced in May it would be consolidating its Beatrice operations with its U.S. headquarters in Orangeburg, S.C., by the end of the year, taking over 300 jobs along with it.
The building's vacancy has led to rumors of potential suitors for the 274,000-square-foot facility.
One rumor that has held traction over the past few months is the transfer of a division of the Kawasaki Motors Corp., a manufacturer of motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, jet skis and other utility vehicles, now in Lincoln, to a Beatrice location.
Kawasaki also has contracts in the hundreds of millions of dollars to manufacture rail cars for rail lines in New York City, Connecticut and Washington, D.C.
The size of the rail car manufacturing work led to a rumor that Kawasaki would be moving the manufacturing of its smaller products to Beatrice.
"We had heard that rumor as well, but Kawasaki is not considering moving anything into the Husqvarna building," said Mike Boyle, manager of the Lincoln plant, in a message to the Daily Sun. He said no discussion has taken place about moving any part of the business to Beatrice.
"We certainly feel bad for people in Beatrice losing Husqvarna, but we are in no way looking at using that plant for Kawasaki," Boyle said.
John DeHardt, managing principal of the building for Kessinger-Hunter, the Husqvarna plant's owner, did not return the Daily Sun's call Tuesday.
The Husqvarna plant was built in Beatrice in 2004.
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