Worcester Business Journal

6 Worcester Business Journal | February 20, 2017 | wbjournal.com B R I E F S Main South to buy 80 units for $4M Worcester nonprofit Main South Community Development Corp. will buy and renovate 80 multi-family residential units thanks to a $4-million bond issued by state agency MassDevelopment. Main South will also buy and renovate five ground-floor commercial units in the city's Main South neighborhood. A new development called Nuestras Casas will be a mixed-income housing complex with 73 of its 80 units reserved for households earning 60 percent of the area median income. Reliant Medical Group pays $10M for office building Reliant Medical Group has bought a four-story building next to the Greendale Mall in Worcester for $10.25 million. The medical group, which has more than 320,000 patients, bought the build- ing as it looks to redraw its footprint. Many of the Worcester nonprofit's leases are due to expire in May 2019. Existing Reliant offices may eventually move into the new site, but not until late 2018. T H E T I C K E R 215,000 People riding the MBTA commuter rail on Feb. 7, when the Patriots' Super Bowl victory parade in Boston drew thousands more than just typical workers. Source: MBTA Worcester's healthy citizen ranking out of the nation's 150 largest cities, behind Boston but ahead of Providence. 57th Source: WalletHub Massachusetts' rank nationally in terms of per-capita eco- nomic contribution of international students and percent of all jobs that are created by the presence of international students. 1st Source: WalletHub Worcester Polytechnic Institute was one of 20 finalists in the NASASpace Robotics Challenge, and the only team from a university. WPI will compete for a $1-million prize. 20 Source: WPI Continued from previous page WBJ names new digital editor Worcester Business Journal hired an award- winning business journalist to lead its digital operations. Grant Welker, mostly recently a staff reporter for the Lowell Sun, took over WBJ's online, social and enewsletter duties as the digital editor on Feb. 6. Welker, a native of Plymouth, ran the Lowell city beat for the Lowell Sun, cov- ering the saga of Tewksbury grocery chain Market Basket, which resulted in his authoring the book "We Are Market Basket: The Story of the Unlikely Grassroots Movement that Saved a Beloved Business." The book was named a Forbes top business book in 2015. From 2007 to 2015, Welker won 17 awards from the New England Newspaper & Press Association, the New England Society of Newspaper Editors and Gatehouse Media, covering business, education and crime. Grant Welker, WBJ digital editor

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