CLEVELAND — The NFL’s Cleveland Browns have hired Elliott-Lewis Corp. of Philadelphia to operate and maintain critical facilities in the team’s $290 million stadium. The expansion team recently completed its fourth season in the stadium, built on the site of the old Municipal Stadium.

Elliott-Lewis operates, maintains and repairs the stadium’s plumbing systems; the HVAC equipment; its electrical fixtures, including all the 592 light fixtures that provide field lighting; high- and low-voltage service; network cabling; smoke exhaust systems; and general maintenance throughout the stadium, including deluxe suites, restaurants, clubs, restrooms, offices and parking.

The 97-year-old Philadelphia firm has experience managing large facilities, such as the Cleveland stadium. For example, it also manages the Philadelphia International Airport, the Pennsylvania Convention Center, and the City of Philadelphia’s Center City office complex, the Independence Blue Cross office complex, as well as numerous other facilities.

William R. Sautter, Elliott-Lewis president, said the Browns’ stadium poses unique challenges for his company.

“Maintaining and operating a football stadium is much different than an office complex,” Sautter said. “A football stadium is in full operation only one day a week over a four-month period, while airports and office facilities operate daily. This means even a minor breakdown on game day has serious consequences. The fans don’t want to think about the elevators, the plumbing or the lighting. They simply want to enjoy the game.

“Our job is to make sure that when the Browns play, everything in the stadium operates smoothly, whether that is during the mild days of autumn or the bitter cold of a Cleveland winter.”

During the NFL’s off-season most of the facilities continue to be in use. Elliott-Lewis and its facilities management team will work during the winter and spring checking and repairing equipment on a regular basis, so the entire facility is ready for the Browns’ first game of the 2003 season. The stadium has hosted several large concerts and is used as a practice facility for the football team. The Browns’ Team Shop is open year-round. The stadium was also built to handle international soccer played during football’s off-season.

Elliott-Lewis was founded in 1905 to construct electric facilities and provide service in Philadelphia and other municipalities. Today it offers a full-range of HVAC services, design-build construction, as well as industrial and commercial maintenance. The core business for Elliott-Lewis is maintaining buildings that range from small bank branches to large correctional facilities, Sautter said. The company has six subsidiaries in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida.

Elliott-Lewis is a unit of FirstEnergy Services Group. FirstEnergy Corp. is the nation’s fourth largest investor-owned utility serving customers from Wisconsin to New Jersey.