Otis Rides Gen2s To Market Heights

Architects designing the University of Arkansas’ $23 million parking deck got a lift from Otis Elevator Co.

Faced with carving the nine-story tower into the campus hillside without obstructing neighboring views, architect Craig Curzon said Otis helped him get “out of the box” by removing “the box.”

Otis’ Gen2 elevators use a gearless, belt-driven system that eliminates the need for a conventional rooftop machine room. That not only cut down on construction costs, Curzon said, but it also allowed him to preserve a uniform roofline atop the 760,000-SF, 2,149-space garage.

Curzon, a principal at Polk Stanley Rowland Curzon Porter Architects Ltd. in Fayetteville, said Otis’ engineers hit a home run on the Gen2.

It is the only elevator system that’s not powered by a motor with a steel cable strung over a drive sheave. The Gen2s bendable, steel-core belts perform similar to steel-belted tires and provide an appreciably smoother ride.

“We chose the Gen2 because not having that big block sitting on top of the building was a big issue,” Curzon said. “With the Walton College of Business to the west, it was important to preserve those views of downtown Fayetteville from the business college.

“The result is a lot more aesthetically appealing.”

Jim Anderson, Otis’ Northwest Arkansas operations manager, said in 2003 the UA Parking Deck’s three Gen2 units became the first ordered in Arkansas. They would have also been the first installed, Curzon said, if the site dig 60-feet into the mountainside hadn’t taken so long.

Otis, which employs 14 people in Fayetteville, serves about 360 elevators from Bella Vista to Fort Smith. Anderson said the area office does about $6 million in annual new product sales, up 35 to 40 percent from 2000 when he transferred in from the Kansas City office.

“We have the lion’s share of the Northwest Arkansas market, mostly because I believe we are the only elevator and escalator company with a full-time sales and service office based here,” Anderson said. “Customers want service, and we don’t have to drive in from Tulsa or whereever to take care of their needs.”

Hailed as “a significant step forward in lift design and technology” by Elevator World magazine, the Gen2s cost an average of $120,000. But that varies depending on the number of stops and other site conditions, Anderson said.

The product’s popularity in Northwest Arkansas continues to rise. Just since the Gen2’s local introduction eight units have been ordered or installed. The other local projects using Gen2s include:

• two units at the $10.15 million, 82,420-SF Lindsey Cos. office building on Joyce Boulevard in Fayetteville;

• two units at the $12.5 million, 110,000-SF expansion to J.B. Hunt Transport’s corporate headquarters in Lowell;

• one unit for a $5.4 million renovation/construction effort that’s adding of a 14,000-SF tower and refurbishing 44,000 SF of space for the Arkansas State Veterans Home at the corner of North Street and College Avenue in Fayetteville.

“By eliminated the [elevator] penthouse on top of the building,” Anderson said, “that’s more core space you can put back into your building. Those are on average a 12-foot by 12-foot machine room, and by the time you cut out the cost of steel, insulation, roofing and air conditioning, you can save $35,000 to $50,000.

“The builder can put that into finishes elsewhere in the building or for better landscaping or whatever. That’s what I call value engineering.”

The Big ‘O’

Otis, based in Farmington, Conn., is one of six segments operated by publicly traded United Technologies Corp., a $32.21 billion conglomerate in Hartford, Conn.

Started in 1853, Otis owns about 28 percent of the market for new elevator and escalator sales. According to www.otis.com, about 100,000 new elevators and escalators are sold annually worldwide.

Otis’ sales companywide were up 13 percent from $7.93 billion in 2003 to $8.99 billion last year. From 2001 to 2004, Otis’ sales were up 42 percent from $6.34 billion.

Trade publication reports cite a 50 percent improvement in energy efficiency from the Gen2, 75 percent less horizontal and vertical vibration and a 30 percent reduction in car noise.

Gen2s travel at 250 to 300 feet per minute (2.27 to 3.98 miles per hour), or the elevator equivalent of luxuriating in a speeding BMW.

A stream-lined construction process also makes installation 75 percent faster than conventional elevators — as fast as 13 to 14 days for installations of up to six stops.

Anderson said the patented belts will give Gen2s a shelf life of more like 20 years, compared to conventional cables that must receive maintenance every three to six years.

“Otis was worked to be the innovation leader in elevatoring since 1852,” Anderson said, “and the company has proven it again with the Gen2.”