A method of placing circuit elements of a partitioned circuit design on a target programmable logic device (PLD) can include mapping circuit elements of the circuit design to corresponding partitions of the circuit design, selecting a circuit element of the circuit design, and selecting a candidate location within a logic boundary on the target PLD. The method also can include validating the candidate location for the selected circuit element, at least in part, according to whether the selected circuit element belongs to a same partition of the circuit design as at least one other circuit element already placed within the logic boundary. The selected circuit element can be selectively placed at the candidate location according to the validation.