Courtesy / Hussey Seating
In 2019, Hussey Seating completed construction of a seating system at the United Center in Chicago, home of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks.
Updated: March 12, 2020
Hussey Seating takes on $25M in work this year
Photo / Tim Greenway
Hussey Seating has been awarded over $25 million in major renovation work so far in 2020. Gary Merrill, Hussey’s president and CEO, is seen here in the chair fabrication department of the company’s North Berwick facility.
Hussey Seating has been awarded over $25 million in major renovation work so far in 2020.
The North Berwick company will be outfitting some of the nation’s biggest sports venues over the next 24 months, including Talking Stick Arena (Phoenix Suns), Bankers Life Fieldhouse (Indiana Pacers), PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates) and the Alamodome (hosting the 2021 Women’s NCAA Final Four in San Antonio), according to a news release.
Several of the projects are replacement orders, since most of these facilities have already had Hussey Seating equipment in place, some for more than 20 years.
The contracts come on top of major projects already completed in 2019 at the United Center (Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks) and the Enterprise Center (St. Louis Blues).
“We are excited by every contract we are awarded, but it’s truly a point of great pride for us when an operations director, who has retracted our telescopic systems thousands of times over decades to reconfigure their facilities, chooses our product again,” Gary Merrill, Hussey’s president and CEO, said in the release.
The contracts for 2020 represent more than 100% growth for Hussey in the professional sports venues market alone, a small but important segment of the company’s business, Sean O’Leary, vice president of sales and marketing, told Mainebiz.
“Each project has a contract value between $5 million and $15 million,” he added.
With regard to the older seating system, both seating and the markets have changed significantly over the past two decades, explained O’Leary.
“These venues are dedicated to maximizing both the fan experience and the number of events they can host per year,” he said. “Twenty years ago, a venue changeover from hockey to basketball might take eight hours. With our technology and engineering, we see these reduce to two to four hours, which allows these venues to expand not only the number of events they host per year but the type of events they host as well.”
The selection process has also changed dramatically, he said: “Today, we can use 3D configurators and Revit drawings, so venue owners can actually see a nearly perfect representation of how their venue will look long before any seat is installed.”
Headquartered in North Berwick, Hussey acquired a 45,000-square-foot industrial building at 90 Community Drive in Sanford in 2019 as part of a multi-year, $8.2 million project to enhance its manufacturing capabilities.
Overall, the company manufactures seating systems for applications ranging from school gymnasiums to college and professional sport stadiums to arenas, convention centers and performing arts auditoriums. Its largest project comprised 120,000 seats for fixed systems at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs, and, next door, Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals. The family-owned business is celebrating its 185th anniversary this year.
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