Acme chose the site to accommodate its rapid growth, as the company has doubled its employee base in the past year, and president and CEO Andy Ory says likes Northwest Park for its capacity to accommodate Acme's anticipated future expansion. "Acme Packet has experienced growth in all areas of business, most notably sales, professional services and customer support," says Ory in a statement. "This growth mandates a facility that can accommodate the aforementioned areas, as well as the engineering and lab requirements necessary to stay ahead technologically in such a competitive marketplace."

Located across the Middlesex Turnpike from the Burlington Mall, Northwest Park is comprised of more than 40 buildings with about 1.5 million rentable sf for office, R&D and light manufacturing use. The two-story 71 Third Ave. is the newest addition to the park with basic construction completed about two years ago. The building was then customized to suit Acme.

"It was a rough shell of a building and we worked with (Acme) through the design, construction, and relocation phase," says Al Livermore, VP of operations for Diversified Project Management Inc. whose firm, along with Erland Construction, readied the building for Acme. Amenities at the building include a café, a child-care center.

Douglas Wynyard of Nordblom Corfac International represented the owner, Norblom Co., while Brad Spencer of Grubb & Ellis represented Acme Packet. Livermore, John Waitkunas and Denise Booras of DPM managed the construction and relocation for the project.