Advanced Technology Ventures: Staying Put in Waltham

I've gotten some tips recently that two other Waltham venture capital firms have been considering a move to Boston and Cambridge. This comes in the wake of Greylock's announcement last week that they're taking space in Harvard Square.

I promise this won't become a blog obsessed with real estate, but...

...I put in a call this morning to Bob Hower, the partner at Advanced Technology Ventures in Waltham who is responsible for their lease. They're one of the firms that has been nosing around Boston and Cambridge, weighing their options.

"We've been talking about it," Hower told me. "But it's more in response to other people expressing some interest in our space [at the Bay Colony Center], which started six or seven months ago." Hower says ATV has a couple years left in its current lease, and "it's very unlikely we'd go anywhere before that."

But as a resident of Cambridge, he acknowledges the allure of being closer to the urban core. "The traffic around [Waltham] is horrendous, and it seems like the construction is never going to stop," he says. Hower also mentions that one reason that many Boston and Cambridge VC firms moved out to Waltham in the first place was to be at a "mid-way point" between the city and companies located out on Route 495, or up north on Route 3. But there's noticeably less action in those areas these days.

"It wouldn't surprise me" if more Waltham firms started to boomerang back to the city, Hower said.

Know who the other firm is that has been hunting for space in Boston or Cambridge? Do post a comment, or send me a private e-mail using the contact form on the right...