Huttig distributes its products through 45 distribution centers serving 47 states. The company's wholesale distribution centers sell principally to building materials dealers, national buying groups, home centers and industrial users, including makers of manufactured homes.

The new facility is Huttig's first in Minnesota. The facility will include product lines of building materials and wood products. The new production and distribution center will serve customers within a 150-mile radius of the Twin Cities area.

Huttig says the expansion is part of its strategic plan to expand product offerings and enter new markets. "With the addition of the new facility serving greater Minneapolis, we achieve continued geographic expansion and increase our national coverage of the US housing starts market to more than 85%," says Michael Lupo, president and chief executive officer of Huttig.

Despite the expected modest decline in housing starts in 2005 from last year's record two million starts, Lupo recently said he expects Huttig's growth to come from new and expanded facilities, which added more than 270,000 sf of distribution space to a total of 3.9 million sf, as well as increased production capacity, expanded distribution, service, customer base and market share, and continued growth from national accounts.