Viking Athletics, an independently owned and operated gym in West Hartford, plans to relocate to a building it has acquired on New Park Avenue.
Erik Castiglione, founder and owner of Viking Athletics, is also principal owner of Castle Holdings LLC, which on June 30 acquired 433 New Park Ave. for $1.2 million from Alored Associates.
The one-story building was built in 1941 and has a total of 8,960 square feet of office and warehouse space on 0.62 acres.
Viking Athletics’ current location at 635 New Park Ave., a five-building industrial complex, has been a gym since 2009, when it was home to CrossFit Relentless. Castiglione was one of the first members.
Although he has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Yale University and a master’s in electrical engineering and electrical power systems from Villanova University, which led to working for the U.S. Department of Defense for four years, Castiglione — who is the nephew of Boston Red Sox radio announcer Joe Castiglione — eventually decided he enjoyed physical training and coaching others.
He acquired CrossFit Relentless in 2016 and renamed it Viking Athletics because he wanted to offer more than just CrossFit training.
“I always had the intent of expanding beyond CrossFit,” he said. “We do nutrition coaching, and we offer remote training and provide video feedback, where we assign workouts to people who are not local. I think my most distant client was in Thailand.”
Castiglione said he began looking for a new site about 19 months ago because the rent for his current location was increasing significantly.
“It became cheaper to pay a mortgage,” he said.
It took so long to find an appropriate site, he added, because there was “nothing available to rent that wasn’t next door to another gym. The warehouse park I’m in has five or six (gyms); I think at one point we were up to eight.”
The new location, approximately a mile from the current site, is about 1,000 square feet smaller but he does not believe that will be a problem. The building will require interior renovations, which he expects to take about four months to complete once the permits are approved.
Castiglione said the building previously housed office space, including a “cubicle bay,” but that the “bones of the building were industrial or manufacturing before that.”
Viking Athletics has about 120 members, down from pre-COVID levels of around 200, and employs six people, Castiglione said, adding he does not expect to expand his staff after the move.
“Most of my people are part time,” he said. “I’m looking to move toward fewer employees but full-time employees.”
He added he hopes to complete the move into 433 New Park Ave. by December of this year.
