Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | March 5, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 5 B R I E F S Worcester Magazine, five others sold for $1.2M New York-based GateHouse Media, the parent company of the Telegram & Gazette and the MetroWest Daily News, is spending $1.2 million to acquire Worcester Magazine and other five small papers in Central Massachusetts. The previously undisclosed price of the purchase of Millbury-based Holden Landmark Corp., which was announced Feb. 22, was listed in financial filings Feb. 28 from New Media Investment Group, GateHouse's parent company. Kirk Davis, president and CEO of GateHouse Media and COO at New Media, owns the Holden Landmark Corp, which includes Worcester Magazine, the Holden Landmark, bay- stateparent magazine, the Grafton News, the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle and the Leominster Champion. Dick's to stop selling assault weapons Pittsburgh-based Dick's Sporting Goods is ending sales of assault-style rifles and will no longer sell any firearm to anyone under 21.That includes loca- tions in Natick, Northborough, Millbury and Worcester. The decision is a direct response to the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. that took the lives of 17 students and faculty. Post cereal to close Clinton manufacturing facility A Clinton cereal manufacturing facil- ity owned by Missouri-based Post Holdings will close by August 2019. Post, which produces Honey Bunches of Oats, Pebbles and other recognizable brands of cereal, will close the facility, which currently employs 180. The facil- ity was acquired with the $1-billion acquisition of Weetabix in July. Worcester County median home prices hit $253K Worcester County continues to buck the statewide trend of declining home sales, posting a 8.1-percent increase in single-family sales in January. Aside from Middlesex County with 663 single-family home sales in January (a 0.8-percent decline from January 2017), Worcester County had the most single-family home sales in January with 542. The monthly report from The Warren Group shows median sale prices increased by 9.5 percent for single-fami- ly homes in Worcester County, a rise to $253,450 from $229,250 reported in January 2017. Armsby owners to open Hudson restaurant Alec Lopez and Sherri Sadowski, the husband-and-wife team behind Armsby Abbey and Dive Bar in Worcester are planning a third location called Conico, this one on Main Street in Hudson. The Hudson Board of Selectmen approved the restaurant's liquor license, At the meeting, Lopez said the lease has already been signed and he hopes to begin construction on the space soon, which will include taking down a wall separating the bottom floor of the Main Street building to provide enough room for at least 100 seats. The building is owned by Hudson businessman and developer Charles Randall. Worcester seeks to restrict retail marijuana locations Worcester City Manager Ed Augustus is proposing zoning amendments for the budding legal marijuana industry to facilitate the opening of 15 retail mari- juana stores. No such establishment, either a grow site or retail-only location, will be allowed in a residential district. In the districts where the use is allowed, companies must obtain a per- mit from the Planning Board, and any facility must be at least 500 feet away from a school, daycare center, public library, public park or playground. Leasing begins for $90M Front Street apartments Malden-based Roseland Residential Trust said leasing has begun for the new residential development at 145 Front St. in Worcester, a key component of the $565-million City Square project seek- ing to bring 22 million square feet of new development to downtown. Alec Lopez and Sherri Sadowski, owners of Armsby Abbey and the Dive Bar W Knowledge + Experience + Trusted Advice. It all adds up. Large enough to serve the needs of most businesses and individuals; small enough to offer the personal attention you expect and deserve. Greenberg, Rosenblatt, Kull & Bitsoli, PC Certified Public Accountants 306 Main Street, Suite 400 • Worcester, MA 01608 508.791.0901 • www.grkb.com

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