Worcester Business Journal

4 Worcester Business Journal • April 13, 2015 www.wbjournal.com W hen Worcester officials had agreed last month to sell the former Worcester County Courthouse to New Hampshire developer Brady Sullivan Properties, city leaders rejoiced. The vacant courthouse was shuttered and Brady Sullivan's proposal to redevelop it into 115 market-rate apartments and 3,000 square feet of retail space was a resounding win for the Lincoln Square neighborhood. But it wasn't long before a local labor group raised objections to the proposed deal. The Worcester Community Labor Coalition, representing the local construction industry, lobbied city councilors, seeking to ensure that Brady Sullivan adhere to a list of hiring demands drafted by the coalition. What were local labor reps pushing for? The list included a stipulation that at least half of the project workforce live in Worcester, plus requirements that at least 15 percent consist of ethnic minorities, and at least seven percent be female. The coalition also asked that all contractors hired on the project offer apprenticeship programs, which train new workers in the trades. And, the coalition asked the city to establish a penalty for any project contractors found to have violated wage and employee classification laws. What was behind the latter request? This stemmed from concerns about workers' com- pensation violations by subcontractors employed on two other Brady Sullivan projects, according to city spokesman John Hill. But Hill noted that Brady Sullivan itself has no history of such violations. What was the response? When the City Council unanimously approved the $1.2 million sale last week, most of the coalition's requests weren't fulfilled to the extent it was seeking. But the deal between the city and Brady Sullivan was modified to include a commitment from the developer to use its best efforts to spend 50 percent of the project's wage budget on local workers, or hire from companies with apprenticeship programs. According to Hill, the company is allowed some liberty here, because the contractors and subcontractors Brady Sullivan works with must have adequate labor avail- able based on the construction timeline. But Mark Pinard, general counsel for Brady Sullivan, said the company has "every intention" of fulfilling these obligations. In addition, Brady Sullivan has agreed to revise the lan- guage in contracts with contractors and subcontractors to reiterate that all companies working on the project must comply with state and federal labor laws. Is the coalition satisfied? "I think it's a better deal and it's probably all that we could have asked for," said Frank Kartheiser, co-chair of the coalition. He said his group is pleased with the revised agreement, despite the fact that it falls short of the group's original goals. Q WORCESTER — UMass Memorial Health Care will open several urgent care centers in Central Massachusetts this year, which will help ease pressure on the health care system's emergency rooms. The Worcester-based system, the region's largest health care provid- er, announced its plans after a Quincy- based urgent care business, CareWell Urgent Care, said it plans to expand into Worcester in the coming months. UMass Memorial doesn't view CareWell strictly as a competitor; UMass Memorial CEO Dr. Eric Dickson said the health care system will collaborate with CareWell, the state's largest operator of urgent care services, "to identify synergies" between the organizations. HUDSON — Internet security pro- vider Corero Network Security will open a research and development cen- ter in Scotland, the company announced. The new operation, to be located in Edinburgh, adds network security and software-defined net- working expertise, according to the company. Corero provides security against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which seek to over- whelm online services with too much web traffic. A study of European com- panies by Neustar — the third annual European Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks & Impact Report — found that companies sur- veyed estimated hourly losses close to $150,000 while they were under attack. WORCESTER — Worcester State University will allow Springfield Technical Community College stu- dents to complete their bachelor's degrees in four years for $30,000 or less, under an agreement between the two schools. The agreement would allow Springfield Tech students to transfer to Worcester State (WSU) after receiving their associate's degrees as part of a state program, MassTransfer, WSU announced in a statement. MassTransfer is run by the Mass. Department of Higher Education. The program allows com- munity college students to complete their associate's degrees and transfer to any Massachusetts state university or University of Massachusetts school. WESTBOROUGH — Business con- sulting and technology outsourcing company Virtusa Corp. has acquired all the outstanding shares of Apparatus Inc. for $34.2 million cash. The Indianapolis-based company provides end-to-end IT infrastructure services. The acquisition strengthens Virtusa's growing infrastructure management services practice with the addition of Apparatus' Kore Managed IT Solutions platform, Virtusa said in a statement. ACTON — Video software maker SeaChange International of Acton missed analysts' expectations in its fourth fiscal quarter. The company reported revenue of $31.3 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, and a loss from operations of $5.3 million, or 16 cents a share. Analysts were expecting the company to report a net loss of 4 cents per share. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, the company had revenue of 35.6 million and an operating loss of $900,000, or 3 cents a share. MARLBOROUGH — Medical device manufacturer Boston Scientific reached an agreement to acquire Xlumena Inc. Based in Mountain View, Calif., Xlumena makes mini- mally invasive devices to drain target- ed areas of the gastrointestinal tract through endoscopic ultrasound. The deal is valued at $75 million, Boston Scientific (BSX) said in a statement. The announcement comes roughly 30 days after BSX announced it would acquire the urology division of American Medical Systems for about $1.65 billion in cash. That deal, expected to close later this year, would be Boston Scientific's largest acquisi- tion since it bought cardiovascular products maker Guidant Corp. in 2006 for $27.2 billion. FRANKLIN — InSite Wireless Group has acquired 294 communication tower sites from CTI Towers of Franklin. A statement from InSite said the assets it purchased also include tower site equipment and infrastruc- ture, related property interests, and wireless carrier and customer agree- ments related to the towers. InSite has developed and operates more than 20 projects across the United States in convention centers, casinos, airports, sports stadiums and transit systems such as the MBTA and the Los Angeles County Metro. With the transaction, InSite now has more than 1,200 com- munication towers. FRAMINGHAM — TJX Cos. stock- holders will see a 20-percent increase in dividends in two months as the par- ent of off-price retailers T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods and Marshalls continues to grow revenue and profits. The com- pany's board of directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of 21 cents per share, which will be paid June 4 to shareholders of record as of May 14, TJX said in a statement. In February, TJX reported net income of $648.2 million for its most recent quarter, which ended Jan. 31. That was up from $582.2 million a year earlier. REGIONAL BRIEFS >> Continued on next page Verbatim "Just anecdotally speaking, the number of people staring down on the Mass Pike in moving traffic is fairly alarming." Rep. Carolyn Dykema, D-Holliston, who has filed a bill that would force cell phone service providers to hand out a free app that locks texting and social media apps while the user is driving. Source: Milford Daily News, April 3 >> "I am strongly in favor of this propos- al and plan to vote in favor of it …" Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty, voicing his support for the sale of the former Worcester County Courthouse to a New Hampshire developer, despite concerns from a local labor group. Source: Telegram & Gazette, April 6 >> "People believe that I can make a difference, and that's what I'm hoping to have the opportunity to do." Rep. Stephen DiNatale, D-Fitchburg, upon launching his campaign for mayor of Fitchburg. Source: Sentinel & Enterprise, April 6 >> BRIEFING: COURTHOUSE SALE CENTRALMASS In Review

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