Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com April 11, 2016 • Worcester Business Journal 5 town Crowne Plaza in 2010. Restaurant group nabs Bull Mansion for $480K The historic Bull Mansion at 55 Pearl St. in Worcester has been purchased for $480,000 with the owners planning to open a restaurant. New England Dream Center sold the 14,600-square-foot property to the local firm Bull Mansion, LLC, whose owner- ship group includes Victoria Mariano, who owns and operates Electric Haze and Spiritual Haze hookah smoking lounges in Worcester. The facility, which was originally built in 1876, last served as a restaurant before it closed in 2010 and was sold in a fore- closure auction. Wachusett Brewery launches national line of alcoholic seltzer Wachusett Brewing Co. of Westminster has launched a new alcoholic seltzer in a nationwide roll-out as the firm expands into an entirely new branch of brewing. The new product line is called Nauti Seltzer. It is a low-calorie alternative to alcoholic sodas and beer-alternatives. While Wachusett is a regional brewer, plans are for this new product to go nationwide. The product will be distributed under the company name Craft Cocktail Co. and hit store shelves this week. Currently distributed to liquor stores, interest has been high from retailers such as Whole Foods, Walmart and Target. Air Force awards WPI $185K for drone intelligence research A Worcester Polytechnic Institute professor received a $185,000 grant from the U.S. Air Force to make unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) more intelligent and reliable, even when they experience mechanical problems or encounter unex- pected situations. The grant will fund 18 months of research led by Raghvendra V. Cowlagi, assistant professor of mechanical engi- neering and aerospace engineering. He received the grant in collaboration with Aurora Flight Sciences Corp., a Cambridge company that manufacturers and designs unmanned aircraft. The research can be applied in UAVs used in military and civilian applications, including those designed for search-and- rescue missions. The research would extend to UAVs operated by the Air Force include the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, which has a wingspan about one-quarter the size of a Boeing 747 and can carry about 450 pounds of payload. UAVs are designed to fly under the control of a human pilot on the ground. However, damage or a loss of communi- cations can disrupt the UAV. Cowlagi and his research team are developing algo- rithms to run on a UAV's onboard com- puter that will allow the aircraft to per- form high-level missions with minimal human supervision or remote piloting, while also enabling the vehicle to tolerate severe degradation. >> Continued from previous page REGIONAL BRIEFS REAL DEALS Real Deals highlights recent commercial property transactions in Central Massachusetts. Commercial real estate firms that want to submit information on transactions can send it to editorial@wbjournal.com. Source: New Dover Associates, Inc. of Framingham — Compiled by Sam Bonacci, Worcester Business Journal digital editor The building within the Natick Business Park will be renovated in August and house a new urgent care center. The location is 150 yards from Route 9 and close to the Natick Mall. Assumption to break ground on new academic building Assumption College will has broken ground on a 60,000-square-foot aca- demic building with 13 high-tech class- rooms and a 400-person performance hall in Worcester. The new building will house seminar rooms and study spaces along with the performance hall and a multi-function space with room for 400 people. The building will house the school's faculty offices for the business studies depart- ment, the honors program, the Association of Core Texts and Courses program, the Center for Teaching Excellence and a new Center for the Study of Ethics. Worcester County foreclosure filings up 66% in February Foreclosure filings continued two years of consecutive increases in February, jumping 45.6 percent year- over-year through Massachusetts and 66 percent in Worcester County. Worcester County saw 227 foreclo- sure filings in February, bringing the year-to-date figure to 381 petitions, a 43-percent increase over last year. Within the county, Fitchburg had a 225-percent year-over-year foreclosure start increase in February and was up 127 percent so far this year. Worcester city foreclosure petitions were up 129 percent in February and 79 percent so far this year. ADDRESS: 2-4 Mercer Road, Natick AREA: 17,875 sq. ft. SALE PRICE: $3.9 million SELLER: Nivek Investments I, LLC BUYER: 2-4 Mercer Road, LLC

• Cover