"Yes, it has happened," Jones Lang LaSalle managing director Phil DeSimone confirms to GlobeSt.com after he and colleague Keith Gurtler assisted client National Grid in negotiating terms. DeSimone would provide no details and calls to Boston Properties were not returned by press deadline, but National Grid spokesperson Jackie Barry tells GlobeSt.com that the company is taking a floor at 201 Jones Rd. while it awaits the completion of a new regional headquarters at the nearby Reservoir Woods in Waltham. The diverse energy sector company struck one of suburban Boston's largest leases ever last year upon deciding to consolidate operations into 312,000 sf of space being constructed on a speculative basis by Davis Marcus Partners.

"It's a bit of musical chairs," Barry tells GlobeSt.com, with National Grid separately preparing to overhaul a critical facility in Northborough that will require employees there to operate from the firm's Westborough headquarters. Some of the Westborough employees will be situated at Waltham Weston Corporate Center in the short-term space until they can shift to Reservoir Woods, she explains.

Having assisted National Grid in crafting the landmark Reservoir Woods deal as well, DeSimone confirmed that he and Gurtler have now been tabbed by the firm to market about 120,000 sf at 52 Second Ave. in Waltham being made expendable due to the Reservoir Woods complex. The space in the luxurious building overlooking Route 128 was leased by KeySpan Energy for 20 years in November 2002 prior to the company's takeover by National Grid. Part of the Waltham Corporate Center, 52 Second Ave. is owned by a partnership of the Beal Cos. and Rockwood Capital.