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Worcester Business Journal www.wbjournal.com 2015 Economic Forecast 11 Top 5 stories of 2014 2015 T he year we're about to leave – for some, maybe for- get – saw several noteworthy business-related events in Central Massachusetts, but here's our consensus selections for the top five stories of 2014. As a staff, we unanimously agreed on the top story. There was little debate over the remaining four. Charting new courses and moving ahead Our list of the top business stories of 2014 starts with a huge win in life sciences and not one but two ownership changes at the region's largest daily newspaper By rick saia Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer (1) GE Healthcare Life Sciences announces it will move its U.S. headquarters to Marlborough, bringing with it about 500 jobs. T his was big on several levels, primarily the draw of a Fortune 10 firm to Central Massachusetts. And that's just the beginning. Second, it gives the region some needed street cred in life sciences that was, for the most part, land- ing inside Route 128. Third, it's a boost for the University of Massachusetts Medical School and its research efforts. A partnership with a company like GE can help procure more grants from the National Institutes for Health. Fourth, the region's colleges will have another marquee employer to work with and sup- ply talent for. This is especially good news for WPI and its Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center, which offers introductory and continuing edu- cation in this growing industry. Of course, Marlborough made out a winner as well, drawing another big- name company to the city after Boston Scientific moved its headquarters from Natick and The TJX Cos. moved about 1,600 workers into the former Fidelity Investments campus. n (2) The Telegram & Gazette is sold in June and lays off about 25 people. Several months later, the new parent company is sold. W hen New Media Investment Group takes over the 148-year-old daily newspaper, it will become the T&G's fourth owner in less than two years. In 2013, New York Times Co. sold it to Boston Red Sox principal owner John Henry essentially as a "throw in" with The Boston Globe. Last spring, after being unable to find a local owner for the T&G – which the paper said was his stated intention – Henry sold it to Halifax Media of Daytona Beach, Fla., laying off about 25 staffers before the switch. In November, New Media, the parent company of GateHouse Media, owner of the MetroWest Daily News and several other media properties in the Bay State, announced it was paying $280 million to buy Halifax's 36 papers, most of which are in the Southeast. n (3) Downtown redevelopment efforts in Worcester move forward as developers line up to build a hotel and housing in CitySquare; Quinsigamond Community College opens its downtown campus and Voke Lofts opens. The first phase at CitySquare was marked by the demolition of the former Galleria Mall, the opening of Front Street to re-link the east and west sides of the city, and the building of the Saint Vincent Cancer Care Center and Unum Group's new offices. 2014 saw the opening of the Voke Lofts apartments inside the former Worcester Vocational Technical High School, and QCC's downtown move with the debut of its Healthcare and Workforce Development Center inside the former Telegram & Gazette building on Franklin Street. The next two years will likely see construction of more than 350 apartments in the open space across Foster Street from the Worcester Regional Transit Authority hub, as well as progress toward construction of a 150-room, four-star hotel nearby. Both projects could be completed sometime in 2016. Earlier this month, the T&G reported that the Worcester Planning Board approved plans for the apartments. The downtown plan was also cited as a reason another developer wants to put up a 120-room hotel just two blocks away off Washington Square. n >> Continued on Page 36