FHO Partners and Jones Lang LaSalle lease 203,000 s/f at Nordblom's Northwest Park

According to Nordblom Company and Nordic Properties, Avid, a global provider of digital audio and video production solutions, has signed a 10-year lease for 203,000 s/f of Class A office and R&D space at Northwest Park. This is the largest lease transaction in suburban Boston in 2009. Brian Hines, partner and Michael Dalton, partner at FHO Partners represented Avid, while Jones Lang LaSalle managing director Tamie Thompson, executive vice president Dan Cordeau, and assistant vice president Dan Kollar represented Nordblom in the transaction. Avid is moving from its current location in Tewksbury to create its new worldwide corporate headquarters in Burlington. Avid is slated to move into three buildings - two within the Network Dr. campus and one in the adjacent Northwest Park in June 2010. Avid will occupy the entirety of both 75 Network Dr. and 10 North Ave., as well as the first and second floors of 65 Network Dr. Included in Avid's new space for their exclusive use will be an elevated pedestrian bridge to connect 65 and 75 Network Dr. This bridge will mimic the design of current connecting bridges at the Network Dr. at Northwest Park campus and will provide enclosed, all-weather access between the buildings. Northwest Park consists of a unique 285-acre property located at the Rtes. 128 and 3 interchange with over one mile of frontage on Middlesex Tpke. It currently consists of over 2.5 million s/f of first-class office and R&D space with permits in place to grow to 4.6 million s/f of office and mixed use occupancies. "Avid recognized the value of relocating their headquarters to this world class office park, which is rapidly becoming one of the preeminent addresses on Rte. 128," said Ogden Hunnewell, president of Nordic Props. "They join an exciting and growing group of technology companies in this expansive campus setting," he continued. According to Ken Sexton, executive vice president, CFO and CAO, Avid, "After reviewing many potential sites, we are pleased to announce that we are moving our worldwide corporate headquarters to the campus on Network Dr. This new setting will provide our colleagues with a modern, collaborative workspace and allow us the flexibility to create a state of the art facility to educate and entertain our growing global customer base." Avid's space in 65 and 75 Network Dr. will feature a combination of private offices, customer presentation areas, labs and an open and collaborative work environment. In addition to the new pedestrian bridge connecting 65 and 75 Network D., there is an existing pedestrian bridge on the third floor of 65 Network Dr. providing a comfortable, all-weather connection to 55 Network Dr. and a satellite cafeteria. Both 65 and 75 Network Dr. offer excellent Rte. 3 visibility. 10 North Ave. is a single story building of approximately 30,000 s/f which will be used by Avid for additional office space as well as manufacturing and logistics. Erland Construction will complete build-out of Avid's new space at the Network Dr. campus, with project management services provided by Nordblom Development Company. Erland will create a highly specialized state of the art customer center for Avid for customer interface and presentation purposes. Other plans for the Northwest Park Avid campus include construction of a connecting road between the Network Dr. ring road and North Ave. at Northwest Park, which is slated to be completed in June 2010. Also scheduled to be delivered and ready for occupancy in January 2010 is the new corporate headquarters facility for Palomar Medical Technologies, Inc. at 15 Network Dr. The 132,000 s/f Class A building is being developed by Nordblom Development Company for Palomar Medical Technologies with construction provided by Erland Construction.