Greater Worcester

A 10,000-square-foot retail building in Natick has been purchased by the operators of a number of The Learning Experience daycare centers in Massachusetts, as the company seeks to open its first location in the town.

Tuesday's bankruptcy court hearing on the sale of as many as five Steward Health Care hospitals in Massachusetts has been postponed until Friday.

After a $500,000 purchase, two Converse Street lots adjacent to Interstate 290 are set to become parking for UMass Memorial.

With frustrations mounting over the closure of Carney Hospital at the end of August, the Boston City Council adopted a resolution Wednesday calling for a public health emergency and applying new pressure on the state to protect patient care.

"Things are moving quickly I think right now in the bankruptcy court," Healey told reporters at the State House. "I'm cautiously optimistic but it's right now in the hands of the lenders."

State public health officials have scheduled public hearings on Steward Health Care's plans to close Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer later this month.

Sutton-based Concierge Physical Therapy will open a new, larger facility down the road from its previous location, after securing a U.S. Small Business Administration loan from the Worcester Business Development Corporation and Auburn-based bank Webster Five.

After two months of decline, business confidence among Central Massachusetts employers was back on the rise in July, though the region’s score remained in pessimistic territory. 

With two of the seven commercial spaces in the building now with tenants, 14,418 square feet of space in The Revington remains available.

"If you build a nice affordable development in 10 years that's great, but by then Massachusetts's low-income residents will be living in Rhode Island," Progressive Mass Director Jonathan Cohn said.