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Longtime Grafton Street store — and good neighbor — Better Electric Co. will close this year after 75 years in business at 190 Grafton St. Founded in 1948 by Raymond Grimaldo Sr., the store has been family-owned and —operated ever since. With the closing of the store in sight, owner Raymond Grimaldo Jr. said business will continue as usual, taking in more products until the end of March. He will then enter what he called “a liquidation mode,” selling everything in the store throughout the summer. Once he retires, Grimaldo will look to place the land for sale.

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The License Commission Feb. 23 suspended the license of Michael's Cigar Bar, 1 Exchange St., for violations related to seven people overdosing on the roof of an adjacent building last June, with one dying. The bar was brought to the commission on violations of nonemployees being present on the property after closing hours, for the business assuming responsibility for illegal activity on the property and for not adequately notifying and assisting first responders if people suffered injury in the establishment. The suspension will hang over the business for a year if it was found in violation by the commission again.

$499,999

Single-family home sales were down a third in Massachusetts last month but the median price of the relatively few homes that sold set the all-time high for January, a dynamic that analysts at The Warren Group said reflects how few homes are available in the Bay State. The 2,379 homes sold here last month represented a decrease of 32.6% from January 2022 and a drop of 38.3% compared to January 2021, The Warren Group said. Meanwhile, the median sale price of $499,000 is up 0.8% from a year ago and 11.9% from two years ago.

$4M

A Webster developer purchased three parcels of land on Belmont Street for $4 million, adding to a development with a focus on life science businesses. Galaxy Life Sciences, a developer with offices in Webster, Thursday bought two parcels for $3.3 million and a third for $700,000 from nonprofit New Garden Park Inc., according to the Worcester Registry of Deeds.  The purchases add space to a project coined The Reactory, a 46-acre development at 305 Belmont St. aimed at biotechnology and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Work is underway on a 189,500-square-foot facility by WuXi Biologics, a pharmaceutical manufacturing firm from China. The project is set to cost $60 million.

$69M

Consigli Construction Co. Inc. in Milford, a fourth-generation construction management firm that is behind many local projects, recently announced that it has been selected by the National Park Service to complete historic rehabilitation work to the Lincoln Memorial. Company officials said Consigli is tasked with completing “historic rehabilitation work to the Lincoln Memorial,” including the construction of an “immersive museum” beneath the memorial. The company will also make accessibility upgrades and improvements. According to a release from the National Park Service, the contract is worth nearly $69 million.  Consigli officials said the Lincoln Memorial project will add 15,000 square feet of exhibit space.

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