Greater Worcester

A Leominster attorney has purchased downtown Worcester's Guaranty Building for $9.93 million.

In what has been termed the biggest corporate takeover of 2014 to date, Illinois-drug maker AbbVie, which employs about 700 in Worcester at a research and development facility, has agreed to buy Dublin-based Shire in a $54 billion deal announced Friday morning.

Capital Group Properties of Southborough has agreed to purchase 8.5-acres of land for an undisclosed amount in Shrewsbury for an affordable housing development, the company said.

A $420,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will allow a team of Worcester Polytechnic Institute researchers to test a plant-based therapy WPI is developing for the treatment of malaria.

Casey Storage Solutions will add a fifth Central Massachusetts location, with plans to build a new facility on Route 9 in Shrewsbury.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is slated to become one of the first schools in The United States to offer an online master's degree in electrical and computer engineering.

Pending single-family sales in Central Massachusetts increased in June, according to the state's Realtors' group, while confidence among its members statewide declined.

VitaThreads, a life sciences firm founded in 2012 by two Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) professors, said its signature product has passed a milestone after its testing in animals.

Wormtown Brewery of Worcester has been named grand national champion of this year's United States Open Beer Championship, a contest in which brewers vie for honors in 81 different categories.

Professional business services firm Marsh & McLennan, which has an office in Worcester, has named insurance industry executive Jerry Alderman as president of its New England property and casualty division.