Arnold B. “Buff” Chace Jr.

Arnold B. “Buff” Chace Jr. continues to put his stamp on Providence’s downtown.

The property development company Cornish Associates LP – where Chace is managing partner – already owned numerous downtown properties, but after Cornish teamed with Boston-based Nordblom Co. to buy The Providence Journal building on Fountain Street and a parking lot across the street in 2015, Chace suddenly had new highly visible assets to work with.

Cornish and Nordblom set about updating the once-dated interior of the Journal building, drawing high-quality tenants to the landmark four-story office building. The brick exterior remains largely unchanged.

The building now houses the corporate headquarters of Virgin Pulse Inc., which leases two floors and has about 350 employees. India-based technology giant Infosys Ltd. has opened a design and innovation hub on the first floor, and GE Digital rents offices on the third floor, bringing new life to a building that had not been fully utilized as The Providence Journal downsized its operations. The Journal leases most of the second floor of its former headquarters.

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In addition, Chace’s Cornish Associates and Nordblom have filled what for decades was a gaping space between Fountain and Washington streets, constructing the Nightingale, a $55 million, six-story apartment building that fills an entire city block that had been a parking lot.

That project and Cornish’s recent renovation of three historic buildings along Westminster and Mathewson streets to create more ground-floor commercial space and upstairs living space have changed the complexion of the downtown streets while still maintaining the district’s ­character.