Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | August 5, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 5 B R I E FS Rotmans sold for $2M to CEO's latex company Rotmans Furniture, a family-run Worcester furniture retailer for more than five decades, has officially been ac- quired by Vystar for $2 million, which longtime Rotmans chief executive Steve Rotman also leads as CEO. Rotmans calls itself the largest indepen- dent furniture retailer in the Northeast, with 200,000 square feet of space in Worcester and a workforce of 150 people. e Worcester store generates $6 million in bedding retail sales, with ad- ditional sales expected through Vystar orders placed at Rotmans or online. Texas manufacturer to lay off 68 in Worcester Houston advanced polymers firm LyondellBasell Industries is laying off 68 workers at a Worcester facility on Mill- brook Street, saying the cuts would take place between Sept. 30 and Dec. 31. e 120,000-square-foot facility was the former A. Schulman compounding plant at 53 Millbrook St. before that Ohio company was acquired by Lyon- dellBasell in August for $2.25 billion. Milford ex-casino site sold to Imperial Cars owner e former site of a proposed casino, now an approved residential project in Milford, has been sold for $3.4 million to local businessman Kevin Meehan. e 117-acre property at the Hollis- ton town line was previously the site of a proposed casino backed by Foxwoods of Connecticut, but Milford voters de- feated the proposal in a 2013 town-wide referendum. e property has since been approved for a 268-unit apartment complex named Brookview. Aquarion Water changes Central Mass. leadership Aquarion Water Co., the private- ly-owned utility and a subsidiary of utility company Eversource, has named Paul Lawson its manager of operations for Millbury and Oxford. Lawson replaces Francis King, who retired aer holding the role for 34 years. Lawson began his career with the company in 1997 as a laborer. Worcester creates Canal District parking website With $240 million being poured into a comprehensive redevelopment of a large area in the Canal District including the $101-million Polar Park baseball stadi- um, Worcester officials are taking steps to address traffic and parking concerns during construction. at outreach includes a new website, www.worcestercanal.com, and establish- ing a parking action plan to help mitigate impacts to parking. e minor league baseball team Paw- tucket Red Sox are moving to Worcester for the 2021 season, and the city is taking on the construction project and will be the landlord. e city said 1,000 new parking spaces will be created in the area to support the project along with a 350-500-space parking garage, but busi- nesses have expressed concerns about the headaches the massive construction project will undoubtedly bring. Webster glassmaking facility sold for $6M e former 168,000-square-foot Web- ster location of Toronto glass manufac- turer Saand has been sold to Boston real estate investment firm GFI Partners for nearly $6 million. Saand acquired the site in 2017 from Michigan-based Guardian Industries for about $2.9 million. Saand could not be reached for comment, but real estate firm Glickman, Kovago & Jacobs, which brokered the sale, said the company le the building in December. It was unclear how many workers were laid off. Fix Burger Bar to open 2nd location in Marlborough e Fix Burger Bar, a concept from Niche Hospitality Group of Worcester, will open a second location in a closed restaurant space in Marlborough. Meredith Harris, executive director of the Marlborough Economic Devel- opment Corp., said the restaurant will open in November in the spot formerly occupied by Allora Ristorante. Mission Chapel developer seeks 40% tax exemption Developer Traggorth Cos., which is proposing a market-rate housing redevel- opment of the former Mission Chapel in Worcester, is slated to receive a 40% tax exemption over eight years on the site. Traggorth will pay $124,876 in taxes over the eight-year agreement with $83,250 in savings. e deal is pending City Council approval. W Nat King Cole "You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss. " Standard Time weekdays 3:00 to 6:00 pm. The Great American Songbook and jazz standards. And great radio is still great radio. Herman Hupfield Nat King Cole "You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss. " Standard Time weekdays 3:00 to 6:00 pm. The Great American Songbook and jazz standards. And great radio is still great radio. Herman Hupfield Steve Rotman, CEO, Rotmans Furniture & Vystar T H E T I C K E R $559.1 million Second-quarter revenue for Milford-based lab equipment manufacturer Waters Corp., as profits dropped 8% Source: Waters Corp. Decline in second-quarter revenues for Acton drug test manufacturer Psychemedics due to declines in markets home and abroad 35% Source: Psychemedics $143 million Source: Columbia Gas Settlement amount agreed to by Westborough's Columbia Gas and a class of plaintiffs related to last September's natural gas explosions and fires in the Merrimack Valley Donation given to the Worcester Art Museum from the C. Jean & Myles McDonough Charitable Foundation, the museum's largest ever $10 million Source: Worcester Art Museum

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