Jarlsburg Cheese Importer Moves to Darien

The importer of Norway's Jarlsburg Cheese is moving into 16,000 square feet of space at the Parklands Office Park in Darien.

The move by Norseland Inc. from its current offices at 1290 E. Main St., Stamford, was just announced by the , a commercial real estate firm. Norseland has a total of 29 employees in in Montreal, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, New York and at its corporate headquarters in Stamford, according to its website.

Norseland's president and CEO, John Sullivan, said in a news release that his company has made some "key hires" and expects to hire more employees. The expected growth of the headquarters office was one of the reasons for the move, according to the news release from Signature Group.

The exclusive sales and marketing agent for Jarlsberg, Jarlsberg Lite and other Norwegian specialty cheases, Norseland also markets other European cheeses, including Ilchester (from England), Garcia Baquero (Spain), Old Amsterdam aged gouda (Netherlands) and Lotito Foods specialty cheeses (Italy).

The move represents a second recent migration by a business from just over the Stamford border into space near Exit 13 in Darien. The Parklands Office Park is close to the northbound entrance to Interstate 95. Late last year, Mini of Fairfield County moved from 1259 E. Main St. in Stamford, less than half a mile from the Darien border, to a new location at 154 Post Rd., near the southbound on- and off-ramps of Exit 13.

Nick DeLuca, one of the Signature Group's representatives in the real estate deal, attributed the choice to Parklands' location and the office park being "meticulously maintained and managed."

Norseland's parent company, Tine B.A., based in Oslo, Norway, is a cooperative owned by more than 15,000 dairy farmers in that country.

Jarlsberg was introduced into the U.S. in 1965. Jarlsberg Lite came in 1990, according to the Norseland website. Norseland was founded in 1978 in Old Greenwich.

Signature Group likes the 3 Parklands Dr. building so much that it's own office is located there.