Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1197141
wbjournal.com | January 6, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 5 B R I E FS Former Bain & Co. executive to be BJ's CEO BJ's Wholesale Club, a Westborough operator of membership warehouse clubs, in December named Christopher Baldwin executive chairman and promoted Lee Delaney to succeed Baldwin as CEO. In addition, the retailer appointed omas Kingsbury, the former CEO of Burlington Stores Inc. in New Jersey, to the company's board of directors. Delaney, the current president of the company, was also appointed to the company's board. e changes are effective on Feb. 2. Delaney joined BJ's in 2016 as exec- utive vice president, chief growth officer. Prior to joining BJ's, Delaney was a partner at Bain & Co. in Boston where he headed the firm's consumer products practice. UMass, GE establishing manufacturing facility UMass Medical School and GE Health- care Life Sciences will open a new facility in 2020 to manufacture material used in preclinical research. e Worcester school and Marlborough firm say the facility will help cut down on a backlog due to a lack of facilities able to manufacture large scale viral vectors, which deliver genetic material into cells in gene therapy. at wait can extend to 12 to 24 months for researchers to secure enough vector for their research, they said. e 3,220-square-foot facility will be built on the medical school's campus and open in 2020, and be managed by four to six professional staff. Worcester County economic growth trailed state, nation in 2018 Worcester County's economy grew for the second straight year in 2018 but again trailed the Massachusetts average, accord- ing to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Worcester County surpassed $40 billion in gross domestic product, a measure of the size of the economy. But for the third straight year, Worcester County trailed both state and national averages. Worcester County's economy grew by 2.4% in 2018, compared to 3.1% in Massachusetts and 2.9% nationally. Greater Boston continues to carry much of the state's growth. Boston's Suffolk County grew by 3.6%, and the growth rate was 4.3% in Middlesex County. Rockland Trust sells former Milford National building Milford National Bank's former head- quarters on East Main Street in Milford has sold a year aer the bank was bought by Rockland Trust. Rockland Trust sold the building for $2.6 million in a Nov. 15 deal to Robert Littleton, the founder and president of Beacon ABA Services, a provider of services for children with developmental challenges. e firm has a location a mile from the former bank headquarters at 321 Fortune Blvd., among six other facilities in Massachusetts. Rockland Trust said it continues to use 300 East Main St. for a retail branch and other offices. e 1.5-acre site at 300 E. Main St. was last assessed by the Town of Milford at $2.5 million. e building includes nearly 34,000 square feet of space. Study: Central Mass. MBTA stations could support 18K more housing units A nonprofit study released in December shows potential for more than 18,000 extra housing units along the three commuter rail lines serving Central Massachusetts, with most in MetroWest. e Massachusetts Housing Partnership, a Boston nonprofit working with commu- nities to find solutions to provide housing in the Bay State, examined 261 MBTA stations in Massachusetts, including 15 on the Worcester, Fitchburg, and Franklin commuter rail lines. At 11,339 units, the nine-page study found the biggest concentration could be built on the Worcester line in Ashland, Framingham, Hopkinton, Natick, and Southborough. Union Station in Worcester could support another 1,514. Acton, Fitchburg Leominster, Littleton, and Shirley has space for 5,249 on the Fitch- burg line. ere's space for another 1,725 in Franklin on the Franklin Line. When all of the stations in Greater Boston are included, an opportunity is for up to 253,000 new units, which would ease a growing housing shortage and ease traffic. e survey analyzed all 261 transit stations because the benefits of tran- sit-oriented development. By encouraging concentrations of housing, jobs, services and recreation in transit-accessible locations, regions can increase transit ridership, which in turn can serve to enhance the viability and cost-effectiveness of transit. e study's authors say TOD increases ac- cess to work, services, and other destinations by increasing mobility, which is especially important for low-income households. An increase in transit use results in a reduced reliance on single-occupancy vehicles. A local bank, proudly supporting local businesses. Member FDIC Contact: Michael.Crawford@RocklandTrust.com 508.946.8488 100 Front St. Worcester, MA RocklandTrust.com/Worcester Commercial | Small Business | Investments Come grow with Rockland Trust. Michael Crawford, SVP Expect price hikes with minimum wage increase On New Year's Day, the state's minimum wage increased to $12.75 per hour, up from $12. Two years ago, the Massachusetts Legislature approved a measure to increase the rate annually until it reaches $15 in 2023. When polled online, nearly two-thirds of WBJ readers said this would impact their business in some way. F L AS H P O L L How will the hike in the minimum wage most impact your business? COMMENTS: We will have layoffs to offset the rising expense. 10% We don't anticipate any impact. 33% Lee Delaney, incoming BJ's CEO "Would be more helpful if the response had included the type of industry. Maybe the minimum wage won't affect the lawyer's office, IT, or medical device industries as much as the grocery, the car wash, the hardware store, the bank and the dry cleaner and health care. We should anticipate that prices must go up for some of those basic goods and services. It's a double whammy for those locales that are within easy driv- ing distance of the New Hampshire border. N.H. has a lower minimum wage and no sales tax, making even harder to 'Make It In Massachusetts.'" Our customers should expect our prices to increase. 41% In addition to our minimum wage workers, employees already earning $12.75 will get a raise. 16% Continued on Page 6