Harvard lone bidder for Allston landing site
CAMBRIDGE – Harvard University has offered the only bid, $151.75 million for a 48 acre site roughly bordered by Western Avenue and Harvard Business School, Storrow Drive and Cambridge Street, with a spillover wedge between Cambridge Street and the MassTurnpike. The land, owned by the MassTurnpike Authority, was put up for bid at the request of Harvard, which paid the authority $500,000 last fall to do so. Harvard said it had no specific plans for the site, whose potential is limited by the CSX rail freight yard line, a web of turnpike ramps, Genzyme Corp. manufacturing plant, and several warehouses, most of them under long-term leases. Despite all those handicaps the site has been touted by developers and planners as having great potential for urban development. To become sole bidder, Harvard negotiated a deal with Boston University, which earlier had expressed interest. The deal would give BU an option for the wedge between Cambridge Street and the turnpike, contingent on Harvard’s bid being accepted.
Catamount Brewery Harpooned
BOSTON – Harpoon Brewery, based here, announced that it had agreed to purchase Catamount Brewery of Windsor, Vt., for $1 million. Catamount stopped production last fall. Harpoon said it will market both the Harpoon and Catamount brands, but the plant will bear the Harpoon nameplate. Harpoon says its South Boston brewery has reached capacity at 50,000 barrels and welcomes the chance to use the Catamount brewery with its 30,000-barrel capacity.
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Engel & Völkers Oceanside Leader | The DiSpirito…
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Plans announced for renamed Seekonk plaza
SEEKONK – A Compass Bank is schedule to open soon and a new U.S. Post Office is planned for the former K-Mart plaza here. The plans by SEP Associates of Quincy include a new name for the site: Towne Center. SEP told the Boston Globe no decision had been made yet as to whether the site would also be used as a shopping area or developed for “back office” space.
State wants to liquidate Trust Insurance
TAUNTON – Trust Insurance Co. and Trust Assurance Co. should be liquidated, the Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner has decided. Commissioner Linda Ruthardt asked the state’s Supreme Judicial Court to place the insurance company based here under permanent receivership because it could no longer pay its bills. Trust Insurance and Trust Assurance were placed in receivership in February by the banking commissioner after an examination of the company’s financial condition. A decision by the court is expected later this month.
Mill to be remade into paperboard plant
FITCHBURG – A New Jersey-based manufacturing company has purchased a paper mill here that was closed last year with the loss of more than 100 jobs, the Boston Globe reported. The Newark Group, Inc. purchased the 600,000 square foot mill building for $15 million at bankruptcy proceedings in April. The company announced that it would renovate the building and convert it into a graphic board manufacturing facility, converting 250 tons of recycled paper daily. The New Jersey firm expects to begin operations late next year. The Massachusetts Economic Development authority is providing the Newark Group with a low-interest loan of $41 million from federal and state funds. A MassDevelopment executive said that jobs at the renovated plant will average $35,000 a year, with 10 of them making more than $75,000.
BAA wins contract to run Logan Airport shops
London (Bloomberg) — BAA Plc, the world’s biggest airport operator, said it won a 10-year contract to manage shops and restaurants at the two main terminals of Boston’s Logan International Airport. The contract begins next year, though BAA will take over the two terminals’ 83,700 square feet of retail space on an interim basis next month. BAA plans to invest $5.5 million in renovations. BAA, which operates London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports, has seen its earnings fall since last year, when duty-free shopping was abolished for travelers within Europe. The Boston contract is the company’s fifth with a U.S. airport, BAA said. The two Logan Airport terminals handle 15 million passengers yearly, a figure that’s growing by about 3 percent a year. Logan’s total passenger traffic is 27 million a year.
Myteam.com looking for junior sports reporter
WOBURN, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE) –Myteam.com, a leading online center for amateur sports, announced a nationwide search for an aspiring young sportswriter to report from the 2000 Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA, the culmination of the largest sports tournament in the world, with teams from five countries competing for the coveted Little League world championship. Little League players or fans ages 14 and under can enter to win the role by submitting a short story about their funniest or most noteworthy moment from this past Little League season to myteam.com (www.myteam.com), the official online community of Little League Baseball. These “Myteam Moments” will be read by a panel of judges who will pick the story that best exemplifies the fun and enthusiasm of Little League. Myteam.com will send the winning writer and three members of his or her immediate family to Williamsport, Pa., where the junior reporter will receive a digital camera, a laptop and access to the myteam press area to write “kid’s-eye” reports about the fun and excitement of the entire tournament. Myteam will post these stories daily on the myteam.com website for the world to see.
(Compiled from news reports and releases, print and electronic.)
