Real Estate

With their recently announced agreement to sell the old Worcester County Courthouse, officials in Worcester have removed a large obstacle toward the city's goal of giving the downtown area new life. Recent announcements of several developments move the city closer to its goal of having a walkable, multi-use urban core.

Real Deals highlights recent commercial property transactions in Central Massachusetts.

A former industrial site in Franklin that's heavily contaminated from decades-old manufacturing activity is getting new attention from the federal government.

Rome Building Products of Worcester, a distributor of exterior building materials, has been acquired by ABC Supply Co. of Beloit, Wis.

Single-family home sales in Massachusetts rose almost 4 percent in February, according to a report Tuesday from The Warren Group. There were 2,166 single-family homes sold statewide in February, compared with 2,083 in February 2014.

Prices for existing home sales in the Northeast continued to grow last month despite the harsh winter weather that saw a 6.5-percent drop in the number of sales in the region, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Lincoln Medical or Worcester has purchased an office building at 101 Pleasant St. in Worcester, from Liberty Assembly of God, based in Shrewsbury.

A developer that has already made a mark in Worcester has agreed to buy Unum Group's former office building on Chestnut Street, and may convert it into space for college classrooms and student housing.

The city of Worcester has agreed to sell the former Worcester County Courthouse to a New Hampshire developer that specializes in historic properties for $1.2 million, according to a statement from City Manager Edward Augustus' office.

Record-breaking snowfalls throughout February stunted home sales in the region last month, with a drop of 13.5 percent from January's numbers throughout New England, according to ReMax of New England.