MetroWest

A long-anticipated conservation and residential development project at the Stow Acres Country Club is approaching its final stages as a 189-unit mixed-income housing development project awaits approval by the Town of Stow.

Unemployment rates across Central Massachusetts increased at the start of this year, with January unemployment higher in all three of the region’s metropolitan areas tracked by the state.

Natick-based clean energy company Ameresco has entered into an agreement to acquire Italy-based energy efficiency and renewable energy company ENERQUOS Energy Solutions S.r.l.

Natick software developer MathWorks donated $2.5 million to build a new regional YMCA in Ashland.

Marlborough-based pharmaceutical company TheracosBio appointed Jeff McGroarty as its first full-time chief financial officer. His appointment comes following regulatory approval of a new diabetes drug, TheracosBio’s first commercial product.

The City of Framingham bought a four-story office building next to Framingham City Hall for $2 million on Thursday.

A half dozen craft breweries in Framingham, Marlborough, Worcester, and throughout Central Massachusetts are creating and selling female-driven beers in March in support of Women’s History Month and the nonprofit The Pink Boots Society.

Ascend Elements and Honda Motor Co., Ltd. reached an agreement to extend their collaboration on recycled lithium-ion batteries for Honda’s electric vehicles in North America.

Developers have proposed a mixed-use development at an Ashland shopping plaza anchored by a Shaw’s supermarket at 301 Pond St.

Wolanski CoWork, Inc., a franchise of Venture X, will open a nearly 15,000-square-foot coworking space in downtown Worcester in late summer.