Toy company moves warehouse operations from Conn. to N.J.

The Wilton, Conn.-based company subleased a 208,899-square-foot industrial building in South Brunswick.Melissa & Doug, a designer and manufacturer of educational toys and children’s products, has relocated its primary warehouse and distribution operations from Connecticut to New Jersey.

The Wilton, Conn.-based company has subleased a 208,899-square-foot industrial building at 1203 Cranbury South River Road in South Brunswick from Aeropharm Technology, commercial real estate services firm NAI James E. Hanson announced today. Aeropharm had leased the space with the intention of occupying it, but was then acquired by Abbott Labs, according to the firm.

Melissa & Doug was “looking for a location that was best suited to cover everywhere from Florida to Maine,” said NAI James E. Hanson Senior Vice President Kenneth Lundberg, who along with Joel Hausman, of Fairfield, Conn.-based Colonial Realty, represented the company in the deal. “New Jersey is what appeared on their radar screen.”

Central New Jersey is more centrally located for distribution than Connecticut, being roughly equidistant to Philadelphia and New York and Boston and Washington, D.C., he said. “In a single truck-driving day, by locating in central New Jersey, you probably double the number of population you can reach in one day” compared to Connecticut, Lundberg said.

Melissa & Doug had occupied two different warehouse facilities totaling 175,000 square feet in the Wilton, Conn. area, and has retained a small portion of that space, according to Lundberg. The South Brunswick building not only has a larger amount of square footage to accommodate future growth, but also has higher ceilings than the Connecticut facilities, he said. “It’s considerably more space,” he said.