Newsbriefs

Real Estate & Development

Pearl St. building on the block

WORCESTER – The former TiNovo restaurant in Worcester is up for sale. George & Co., a city merger, acquisition and brokerage firm is handling the sale. Mitch Terricciano, the owner of Tiano’s restaurant, bought the downtown property in 2005. But Terricciano couldn’t make it work, and the property was bought in a foreclosure auction by the Digital Federal Credit Union. The 55 Pearl St. building has been renovated. It features an elevator, a full kitchen and new bathrooms, lounge and dining rooms, according to George. The space also includes a large banquet room. George, led by Chistopher R. George, is working with the city, the building’s neighbors and DCU to find a buyer.

Preponderance of repossessions

Foreclosure filings in Massachusetts are at record levels in every area of the commonwealth, according to ForeclosuresMass.com of Framingham. According to the firm, lenders initiated 2,002 foreclosures in Massachusetts in April. That’s 63 percent more than the number of foreclosures recorded in April 2006. Over the past 12 months, lenders have initiated 23,116 foreclosures statewide, an 81 percent increase over the previous 12-month period, the firm said. For the year, Worcester had the third most foreclosures in the state with 1,027. Only Springfield and Boston had more. Jeremy Shapiro, president of ForeclosuresMass.com, said, "virtually every community in Massachusetts is being impacted. Wealthy and poor, urban and rural, and all communities in between are being ravaged." Shapiro said April’s figures indicate that foreclosures "will continue to have a negative impact on the Massachusetts real estate market throughout 2007."

Dueling housing numbers

Single-family home sales fell 1.9 percent in April, compared to April 2006, according to the Warren Group. There were 4,088 homes sold compared with 4,169 in April 2006. The median price for single-family homes dropped 4.7 percent in April, from $335,000 in April 2006 to $319,314. The year-to-date median price declined 3.9 percent from $325,000 last year to $312,500 this year, according to the Warren Group. Condominium sales and prices fell more dramatically than single-family home numbers, according to the Warren Group, publisher of Banker and Tradesman. April sales were down 4.9 percent from 2,425 last year to 2,306 in April 2007. Year-to-date sales dropped 4.1 percent from 8,612 last year to 8,263 this year.

Manufacturing

Funky fumes lead to fine for food maker

AYER – The food products made by Vitasoy USA Inc. are said to be organic, natural and healthy, but the pollution from the company’s processing plant was enough to get the company a $12,000 Department of Environmental Protection fine. According to the DEP, Vitasoy violated the state’s air pollution control, hazardous waste management and industrial wastewater regulations. DEP found the violations during a July 2006 inspection prompted by odor complaints. DEP and the Ayer board of health inspected the soy processing plant. According to DEP, Vitasoy failed to comply with its air quality plan, and failed to apply for and receive another required air quality plan approval. The company also failed to comply with hazardous waste management labeling and signage requirements, and failed to file an updated staffing plan for its wastewater treatment facility. Vitasoy USA Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Vitasoy International Holdings Ltd.

High Tech

American Superconductor to improve NYC grid

WESTBOROUGH – American Superconductor Corp. has signed a $1.7 million contract with Consolidated Edison Inc. for work on Con Ed’s New York City grid system. The contract is part of a $39 million government program to develop "secure super grids" in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is expected to fund about $25 million of the project, which is expected to make the power system more resistant to outages caused by weather, accidents or terrorist attacks, and is called "Project Hydra." American Superconductor will develop and install new high temperature superconductor grid technology in Con Ed’s New York City system. The company expects the work to take about three years.

Software co. expands in Asia

NATICK – The MathWorks has opened a new office in Beijing, China. According to the company, the Beijing office is responsible for selling the company’s MATLAB and Simulink products throughout mainland China. The China location adds to MathWorks’ presence in the Asia-Pacific region, which includes offices in South Korea and Australia. MathWorks has offices throughout Europe and the U.S. The company develops computer software for engineers, scientists, industry, government and education.

New product, new customer cost Precision

GARDNER – Production and shipment of a new surgical visualization system to a new customer put Precision Optics Corp. Inc. into an $843,911 net loss for the third quarter ended March 31. The loss is $361,738 more than the $482,173 net loss it reported for the third quarter of 2006. According to the company, revenue for the quarter was $467,199. The company reported revenue of $646,077 for the same quarter the previous year. During the quarter, the company more than tripled its research and development spending in a shift to "customer-driven product development." According to the company, small initial shipments of its new surgical visualization system were made in the first quarter to the customer for whom it was made. The rest of the order is expected to ship during the next two quarters, the company said.

Tech co. acquired in WAC deal

NORTHBOROUGH – WAC Consulting Inc. acquired local accounting technology company Allpoint Info Systems, also of Northboro, to become the region’s largest accounting software consulting firm. WAC said the acquisition would help it "enter new markets and broaden our appeal on the national scene." Allpoint’s founder, Robert Rosenberg, will become a senior business analyst at WAC. Allpoint was founded in 1989. WAC was founded in 1987. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. WAC has branch offices in New York, South Carolina, Utah, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and California.

Conn. co. scoops up Advanced Interconnect

Wallingford, Conn.-based Winchester Electronics Corp. has acquired Advanced Interconnect of Franklin and Kings Electronics Co. Inc. of Rock Hill, S.C. According to Winchester, adding Advanced Interconnect and Kings to its company could lead to annual sales of more than $100 million. Advanced Interconnect, formerly part of Molex Corp., makes fiber optic and copper-based connections for the computer, networking, data storage, telecommunications and medical electronics industries. Kings makes radio frequency connectors for the military, broadcasting, industrial and other markets.

Biomedical

CytRx to lay off Worcester lab staff

WORCESTER – CytRx Corp., a Los Angeles-based pharmaceutical company, will be relocating its Worcester laboratory to San Diego and laying off all of its local lab staff. The company has about 12 people at its Worcester lab. In addition, CytRx also announced that it terminated Dr. Mark L. Tepper as its senior vice president of drug discovery. Tepper, who is based in Worcester, will receive a severance of $125,000. He will also "become a consultant to the company in connection with the transition of our laboratory facility to San Diego," according to an SEC document filed on May 21. A subsidiary of CytRx, RXi Pharmaceuticals Corp., has agreed to take over the lease of the Worcester lab, according to the SEC filing. The lease for the space – which totals 6,900 square feet – expires in December 2007.

Losses mount at Framingham drug co.

FRAMINGHAM – Symbollon Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported a first quarter net loss nearly twice what it reported for the same quarter a year ago. The women’s health care pharmaceutical company reported a net loss of $1.3 million for the quarter compared with a net loss of $548,547 for the same quarter the previous year. The company said increased development expenses related to clinical trials of its IoGen product, and "investor relations expenses" account for the widening loss. IoGen is a potential treatment for cyclic mastalgia, ovarian cysts, and premenopausal breast cancer. The company claimed no revenue for the quarter, but claimed $1.5 million in cash and cash equivalents.

Averion posts loss as company restructures

SOUTHBOROUGH – Clinical research company Averion International Corp. said an $800,000 restructuring charge is mostly to blame for a $1.9 million first quarter net loss. The charge was related to a 13 percent workforce reduction undertaken as part of a merger between Averion’s predecessor company, IT&E International Group, and Millennix Inc. The combined company named itself Averion in 2006. The company claimed first quarter revenue of $8.8 million, a 91 percent increase over the $4.6 million in revenue it reported for the same quarter a year ago. The merger was intended to streamline the company’s operations, and according to its first quarter report, expenses as a percentage of revenue are falling. The company expects to reduce operating costs by $2.5 million annually.

Retail

Eateries hope group is recipe for success

Twelve independent restaurants in north central Massachusetts have formed the Independent Restaurant Collaborative. According to the collaborative, the group formed in order to "take advantage of key cooperative sales, advertising and marketing efforts that it would largely be unable to do on an individual basis." "While we are all competitive, we also know that banding together ultimately serves our businesses and our customers very well," said Dave Celuzza, chairman of the collaborative and owner of Slattery’s restaurant in Fitchburg. There are about 400 employees at the restaurants in the new group.

Insurance

New directors, same accountant for Hanover

WORCESTER – The Hanover Insurance Group filled three spots on its board of directors and named PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP its independent registered public accounting firm at its annual shareholders meeting at its Worcester headquarters this morning. Chairman Michael P. Angelini and Neal F. Finnegan were re-elected to three-year terms on the board, and P. Kevin Condron, the CEO of the Granite Group LLC, was elected for the first time. Leaving the board are Herbert M. Varnum, who retired, and Edward J. Parry III, who resigned. Condron, a director of TD Banknorth Inc and a trustee at Holy Cross, has lived in Worcester since 1972. Members of Hanover’s board of directors get a combination of cash and company stock that equals about $80,000. According to its annual report filed with the SEC, the company posted net income of $170 million in 2006 on total revenue of $2.64 billion.

Health Care

Clinic goes nonprofit

WORCESTER – The IRS approved the transition in April. The company said that the money it would’ve used to pay federal and state income taxes will now go to clinic initiatives such as an electronic health records project. Fallon said going nonprofit would also allow the clinic "to realign the organization around its original mission of caring for patients." Fallon’s financial information will now be a matter of public record. The clinic leases all of its properties, so property tax payments for those properties won’t be stopped as a result of its tax-exempt status. There are more than 20 Fallon clinics in Auburn, Charlton, Fitchburg, Framingham, Grafton, Holden, Leominster, Milford, Millbury, Spencer, Sturbridge, Webster, Westboro, Whitinsville and Worcester. The clinic claims more than 200,000 patients, 75 percent of whom are Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

FCHP net income totals $3.3M

WORCESTER – Fallon Community Health Plan (FCHP) reported $3.3 million in net income, down 33 percent from the $4.9 million it reported during the same period a year earlier. FCHP said the $3.3 million in net income included $2 million of investment income and $1.3 million in income from operations. Revenue for the quarter totaled $226.5 million, up from the $214 million in revenues FCHP recorded in the first quarter of 2006. During the quarter, FCHP’s Summit ElderCare program opened an adult day health center in Charlton, the second in the state. FCHP also began offering subsidized health insurance plans through the state’s Commonwealth Care program.

The News Briefs are compiled from staff and wire reports.