The New Balance Shoe Company moved into five floors of the first building while Lexington-based Provant will lease 18,000 sf in the second building. Vantage partners, from Cambridge, will lease 16,000 sf there.

"This was an opportunity to develop first call office space in an area where it had not been done," Robert Eckstein, executive vice president of the development company, tells GlobeSt.com, explaining why his company chose to come to this largely residential area. "When we were planning the project, the vacancy rate was low and we felt we could offer attractive pricing alternatives at lower rates than Downtown or Cambridge. This is an area in transition."

Eckstein emphasizes that these buildings had been vacant for a while before BV Development purchased it. "No one could quite figure out what to do with it," he says. But, he notes, with the development of the Arsenal Mall two miles away and a new Stop & Shop up the block the area is ready for office space.