Business Matters: Central Mass. by the Numbers

Telegram & Gazette Staff
·3 min read
Charles River Laboratories on South Street, Shrewsbury, in 2010.
Charles River Laboratories on South Street, Shrewsbury, in 2010.

3,000

A pharmaceutical company with a research location at 334 South St. in Shrewsbury is coming under fire for its alleged illegal use of monkeys in laboratory research.  Charles River Laboratories International Inc. allegedly received more than 3,000 endangered long-tailed macaques, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.  A request for comment from Charles River Chief Executive Officer James Foster was not immediately returned. In PETA’s letter to Foster, the nonprofit alleged the Wilmington-based company received the macaques from U.S. suppliers connected to Vanny Bio-Research Corporation Ltd., which was indicted in November by the U.S. Department of Justice for illegally trafficking the animals. 

Congressman Jim McGovern speaks after touring the new, expanded Kennedy Health Center.
Congressman Jim McGovern speaks after touring the new, expanded Kennedy Health Center.

605

Worcester City Manager Eric D. Batista and U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern were some of the dignitaries who attended a ribbon cutting Monday to mark a new satellite location at 605 Lincoln St. for the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center. The $5 million expansion is located in a building formerly occupied by the Veterans Administration. Of the total price tag, $3 million arrived from Congress; private sources including the George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Foundation and the George I. Alden Trust; and the center's operating funds. The center now has a combined total of 11 sites in Central Mass. and MetroWest.

Completed single-family home sales were down 20% in Massachusetts last month.
Completed single-family home sales were down 20% in Massachusetts last month.

20%

Completed single-family home sales were down 20% in Massachusetts last month, but the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said that the percentage decrease was not as severe as previous months. February's 1,899 closed sales on single-family houses were well below February 2022's mark of 2,377 sales, the association said in releasing new market data Monday, while the median sale price was up 4% to $520,000 last month. Condo sales were down 23.3%, from 1,144 closed sales last February to 877 closed sales last month, and the median condo price was up 2.3% to $465,000.

Quad/Graphics Inc. facility on Nashua Street in Leominster.
Quad/Graphics Inc. facility on Nashua Street in Leominster.

60

A printing plant on Nashua Street in Leominster will shut down its operations next month after 13 years in business, costing 60 employees their jobs. Known for its worldwide printing and packaging operations, Wisconsin-based Quad/Graphics Inc. plans to move all of its printing presses from Leominster to locations in Franklin, Wisconsin, and Spartanburg, South Carolina.  The Leominster location will close April 29, according to a statement from the company. More than 200 people lost their jobs when another Quad location closed last month in California. The company promised to offer employees at the Leominster site a separation package that includes assistance through from a career-counseling company.    

107 Tap owner Jefferson Mararian at his new bar on Water Street.
107 Tap owner Jefferson Mararian at his new bar on Water Street.

107

The Canal District got its newest bar Thursday, when 107 Tap opened its doors on Water Street.  The namesake of the 107 Water St. address is a sports-style bar with live music during weekends and a space for private events. The bar is the venture of Northborough-based investor Jefferson Mararian, who purchased the multispace building at 105-111 Water St. last year for $1.3 million.  Mararian was the former owner of Blackstone Tap, a bar at 81 Water St. with a decade of business under its belt starting in 2004.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Business Matters: Central Mass. by the Numbers