In the larger of the two pacts, Kelly will occupy just under 7,000 sf at Ten/10 Post Office Sq., a 14-story office building owned by Broadway Real Estate Partners. Kelly is relocating from Exeter Plaza in Boston's Back Bay district, agreeing to a term of seven years. The move reflects a growing inclination among Back Bay tenants to lease across town in the Financial District. The trend comes after a decade of reverse migration to the Back Bay that helped establish that area as the city's second biggest office submarket at 12.8 million sf.

On the suburban front, Kelly is taking another 5,000 sf at New England Executive Park, where the firm secured a five-year deal that is a renewal and expansion. That complex is owned by Equity Office Properties, a division of Blackstone Real Estate Advisers.

Kelly was represented in the lease negotiations at both properties by Debra Stevens of the Stevens Group, a Boston-based real estate services company. Monica Cost of Cushman & Wakefield was broker for Broadway in the Boston transaction, while John Carroll III of Meredith & Grew was agent for EOP in the Burlington lease.

Stevens would not comment on lease terms due to confidentiality agreements, making it unclear what the rental rates were on the deals. Thanks to tighter conditions and an improving economy, Burlington has seen per sf rents achieved in the $30s and brokers report asking rates have soared into the $40-per-sf range for the best product. Jones Lang LaSalle puts the average asking rent in the Northwest submarket at $26.61 per sf, well above the suburban average of $22.77 per sf and second only to the Route 128 Central submarket anchored by Waltham, which is at $31.36 per sf.

Boston's Financial District is averaging $57.79 per sf for an asking rate, while the city overall is at $53.07. The Back Bay overtook the Financial District in average asking rents during 2007. According to JLL, it is the only submarket of six tracked in Boston to top the $60 mark via its $60.36-per-sf posting.