Central Mass. South

Aided by the town’s rising popularity as a place to live and the local government’s incentive programs, in the past year alone, five new businesses have opened in downtown Webster, with two more scheduled to open in August.

A property with a Walgreens Pharmacy on the corner of Schofield Avenue and West Main Street in Dudley was purchased by New York real estate agency Sagma Realty for $8.3 million, according to public land records.

Webster Five Cents Savings Bank, previously based in Webster, has moved its corporate headquarters to 35 Millbury St. in Auburn, into a building previously used by a Reliant Medical Group office, the bank announced on Tuesday.

Owners of Teddy G’s restaurant in Sturbridge, Jenna and Ted Gidopoulos, have completed the purchase of a former Friendly’s at 367 Main St. in the same town for $1.5 million, and announced on Monday plans to turn the building into a brick oven pizza spot.

Goya Foods in Webster is nearing Webster Planning Board approval for a proposed 129,600-square-foot expansion to its existing facility off of Cudworth Road.

UMass Memorial Health on Thursday celebrated the official merger with Harrington HealthCare, which has operations in Southbridge and Webster, as well as other outposts.

Tree House Brewing Co. in Charlton produced more barrels of beer in 2020 than any other brewer in Central Massachusetts, according to new data from the WBJ Research Department.

Nichols College’s Institute for Women’s Leadership will be named for outgoing president Susan West Engelkemeyer, who retired in June after 10 years at the Dudley school, the college’s board of trustees announced on Wednesday.

Harrington HealthCare System has announced it has achieved two major milestones in the battle against the coronavirus: 50,000 vaccines and 60,000 tests administered.

A Connecticut contractor has been fined $67,250 for asbestos violations that occurred during the demolition of the infamous former Rox’s Nightclub in Oxford, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection announced Thursday morning.