CRANSTON – Motion Industries Inc., a major North American distributor of industrial parts and engineering services, recently leased a 24,000-square-foot warehouse facility in the city, according to Sweeney Real Estate & Appraisal.
The 24 Stafford Court site, located in the Howard Industrial Park, is a concrete one-story building with a 20,000-square-foot main factory floor, 1,000 square feet of finished office space and 3,000 square feet of auxiliary warehouse space.
The property was formerly occupied by a recreation equipment company called Great American Recreation Equipment Inc., previously known as Great American Billiards.
Thomas Sweeney, of Sweeney Real Estate, represented Motion Industries in the lease deal, adding to the company’s more than 600 locations throughout North America.
Since 1976, Motion Industries has been a subsidiary of Genuine Parts Co., generating $8.2 billion in annual sales, according to the company’s website.
The property, located at the intersection of Route 37 and Interstate 95, will provide Motion Industries with convenient access to major highways and regional distribution routes.
Sweeney Real Estate said the site will serve as a strategic hub supporting Motion Industries’ operations throughout southern New England.
Constructed in 1988, the building has been owned by 21 Stafford Court Realty Co. LLC for more than four years, managed by David Celani, according to the company’s annual report filed with the R.I. Office of the Secretary of State.
Celani is the founder of Great American Recreation Equipment Inc., establishing the company as Great American Billiards in 1990 and manufacturing pool tables, air hockey tables and foosball tables. Celani is also the president of D&D Cabinets, a coin-op cabinet manufacturing business he started in 1979.
Great American Billiards continues to operate in North Smithfield, according to its website.
The industrial facility, which includes 1.85 acres of land, was most recently valued by Cranston assessors in 2023 as being worth $1.81 million, according to the city’s online property tax evaluation database. The property includes a loading dock and 20,000 square feet of paved asphalt.