"It's a great opportunity," Bowen tells GlobeSt.com. "I feelcharged." Eastport founder Michael Price says the energy iscontagious, with the change enabling him to launch a separateoperation, Legacy Real Estate Ventures LLC. The acquisition anddevelopment firm will be situated a few doors down on Bear Hill Rd.from Eastport's longtime headquarters. A self-avowed "controlfreak," Price stresses the selection was made carefully, but sayshe feels liberated by Bowen's arrival.

"Eastport all of a sudden has a lot more focus on the serviceside and can do a really good job on the management side, andturning the reins over allows me to concentrate on what I love,which is acquisitions," says Price, who will remain a principal atthe company he started 13 years ago with partners Mark and RichardConnaughton. The one million sf under management is split betweenthird-party clients and Eastport's own portfolio, which encompassesa range of multifamily, office and retail space. Properties securedby Legacy will be fed to the Eastport management pool, but Bowenwill also be scoping out new third-party business independent ofthat source.

"We will definitely be working to grow the fee-managementprofitability," says Bowen, who started in the early 1990s atlegendary Boston firm Leggat McCall Properties, then spent time atanother old-line operation, Whittier Partners, which today isCBRE/New England. The stint at Carruth Capital lasted nearly 10years, helping the Westborough-based landlord maintain a dominantposition in the MetroWest. Still familiarizing himself withEastport's tenants and buildings, Bowen says he believes hisexperience in property management will assist the firm as itstrives to "reach the next level." Although Price will wait untilthe first week of 2008 to officially start Legacy, he says he iseager to get the acquisitions campaign underway as well.