150,000

Developers are looking to build a 150,000-square-foot warehouse at the former location of Showcase Cinemas Worcester North. New York-based Criterion Group LLC, also a real estate firm, is eyeing to build on the open 17.5-acre property at 135 Brooks St. Plans call for a 151,302-square-foot distribution center with four tenants, according to an application with the city Planning Board. The proposed building would have about 34 loading docks and parking for 146 trailers, with the warehouse generating about 276 trips per day, according to the application. The project is before the Planning Board later this month.

20

It's game over for Dick’s Sporting Goods at Lincoln Plaza. The outlet closed for good Dec. 31 after 20 years. The store is one of four in the region, with others in Millbury, Northborough and Leominster. The others are not closing. When it opened in August 2002, the Worcester store on Lincoln Street was the second Dick’s Sporting Goods in the state, employing more than 100 people. Dick’s becomes the latest business in the plaza to close, at one point being retail neighbors of Barnes & Noble and Staples.

15,000

A lawsuit filed by several customers against Peterson Oil Service Inc. of Worcester, that accuses the company of knowingly delivering the wrong mix of heating oil, was certified earlier in December as a class action lawsuit by a Worcester Superior Court judge. In the lawsuit, customers allege that the company’s practices have affected more than 15,000 customers. First filed in 2019, the lawsuit filed by nine customers accuses Peterson Oil, Howard Peterson Jr., Sharon Peterson and Kristen Peterson Halus, of promising ordinary heating oil and instead selling them fuel diluted with large quantities of biodiesel, a type of fuel that is derived from plants and animals as a clean-energy alternative to regular fuel.

135

The Massachusetts State Lottery Worcester Regional Office is set to move to 135 Gold Star Blvd. in the coming weeks. As one of six regional offices across the state, the Worcester office has sold all lottery games out of its 151 West Boylston Drive location, where it has done business since 2006. The Lottery office is shooting for an end of January or early February relocation date, according to state Lottery Interim Executive Director Mark William Bracken. The West Boylston Drive location of the Lottery was an upgrade from its longtime location at 85 Prescott St.

$75,000

Several Worcester Regional Transit Authority programs that benefit senior citizens and residents with disabilities garnered almost $75,000 in funding through a special program administered by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The funding was part of a $1.9 million grant divided among more than 24 local and regional organizations focused on providing transportation to older adults and residents with disabilities. The annual competitive grant program awards money for transit and mobility management projects that complement and expand the community transportation options available in communities across Massachusetts. DOT officials expect a second set of awards for wheelchair-accessible vehicles to be announced in the spring.

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