Sportika Export Inc., a Plainville distributor of sports vitamin and bodybuilding supplements to global markets, has signed what authorities say is one of the Hartford market’s largest industrial lease this year for space in a Berlin industrial park.
Sportika signed a long-term lease for 53,360 square feet in the White Oak Industrial Park at 83 White Oak Drive as a warehouse, distribution center and office. Lease terms were not disclosed.
It was unclear whether the new lease means Sportika is leaving its current lcoation at 75 Farmington Valley Drive in Plainville. Sportika officials did not immediately respond to e-mails Wednesday seeking comment.
The Hampshire Companies, of Morristown, N.J., owns the 4-acre industrial property originally built in 1995, and expanded by 20,000 square feet in 2002.
Cushman & Wakefield Connecticut represented the landlord in the lease.
Sean Duffy, executive director for Cushman & Wakefield Connecticut, confirmed Wednesday the Sportika industrial lease is second in size only to a 150,000-square-foot lease in Enfield that Lego signed earlier this year.
Howevr, CB Richard Ellis in the first quarter counted Plastipak Packaging Inc.’s lease of 222,000 square feet in Lego’s former distribution center at 300 Shaker Road in Enfield as the market’s largest at the time.
Duffy said Berlin’s location as the “geographic center of the state” is a major part of the appeal for any tenant that requires easy access to major roadways for transporting goods.
Indeed, Sportika CEO Barry Griffing said in a statement that the industrial park’s proximity to Interstates 84 and 91, via Route 9, made it an attractive location.
Sportika bills itself as the single largest U.S. distributor of sports nutrition products to a network of international distributors in more than 130 countries, including Italy, Russia and the United Kingdom. Its product-distribution lineup includes Muscletech, ProLab Nutrition, Primaforce and Scivation.
