Worcester Business Journal

6 Worcester Business Journal | June 13, 2022 | wbjournal.com Whether you're inventing a new industry, or reinventing your organization, rely on a team of attorneys who see the world your way. At Bowditch, we'll help you cra your business and legal strategy and manage the essential details so you can stay focused on your long-term vision. Worcester Framingham Boston BOWDITCH.COM BREAKING | BARRIERS BREAK THROUGH WITH BOWDITCH B R I E FS energy storage technology and produces a long-duration liquid metal battery. In August, the company announced it had secured $144 million in investments to build new manufacturing facilities across the country. "We are very excited to take this next step in commercialization and maintain our forward momentum as a company," Ambri COO Jim Prueitt said in the press release. "is new facility will expand our U.S. manufacturing operations — close to Ambri's roots in Massachusetts — making it easier to build synergy between development and manufacturing, as well as maintain cohesion and continuity for our existing employees." e new facility will be developed at the former site of a retail plaza anchored by Stop & Shop and Home Goods. e current plaza is more than a million square feet in total, assessed at $15 million by the Town of Milford. e plaza is owned by RJ Kelley, a Burlington-based real estate agency, which bought it in June 2021 for $16.4 million. Museum of Russian Icons appoints new executive director e Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton has appointed Dutch art historian Simon Morsink as its new executive director, according to a May 26 press release from the museum. Morsink succeeds Founding Director Kent dur Russell, who announced his retirement in April. Morsink hails from the Morsink Icon Gallery in Amsterdam, which he ran for more than 30 years with his brother Hugo Morsink. e Amsterdam gallery specialized in icons created between the 15th and 19th centuries. In addition to running the gallery, Morsink served for 13 years as a senior consultant in Russian and Greek icons for New York-based art broker Sotheby's. "I am delighted that Simon will join our administrative team as the new executive director," Jack McCabe, president of the museum's Board of Trustees, said in a statement. "He is uniquely qualified to guide the museum into its next phase … Simon's appointment comes in the middle of a busy year of returning, rebuilding, and reimagining at the Museum of Russian Icons aer the [COVID] pandemic." e Museum of Russian Icons was founded in 2006 by businessman Gordon Lankton, who passed away in March 2021. Developer returns to Millbury with 192-unit 40B plan after condo proposal denied e Millbury Board of Selectmen last week heard a proposal for a 192-unit, 40B housing complex on Rice Road, which has been the site of controversial housing proposals in the past. e 15-acre parcel at 17 Rice Road was originally set to become a 52-unit condominium development, proposed last spring by Steven Venincasa, a Westborough-based developer. Over the course of the year, Millbury residents spoke out against the proposed development, and the Millbury Planning Board eventually denied permitting for the project in a February meeting. e board cited the project's size, location, and traffic impacts as reasons for the denial, as it would be squeezed between the narrow Rice Road and a railroad. Since the vote, Venincasa has drawn up a revised site plan, which his representatives debuted at a select board meeting on May 24. e new proposal is a 40B affordable housing project including three four-story buildings with 16 units per floor, totaling 192 units. As a friendly 40B project, 25% of the units would be affordable. Friendly 40B, also known as a Local Initiative Program, allows municipalities to have a greater say in proposed affordable housing developments because the developer seeks local approval before submitting an application to the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development. An entity registered to Venincasa purchased the site at 17 Rice Road for $500,000 on May 13, according to the Worcester South District Registry of Deeds. Venincasa, who owns Elite Home Builders in Westborough, has constructed a number of large- scale housing projects in the region, including Cobblestone Village in Millbury. He has proposed two separate friendly 40B projects in Graon. Continued from page 5 Simon Morsink

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