Leominster

The September unemployment rates in the Central Massachusetts metropolitan areas surrounding Worcester, Framingham, and Leominster-Gardner all dropped.

Clinton Savings Bank hired former Fidelity Co-operative Bank executive John Peculis as senior vice president, chief lending officer.

The Innovation Institute at Westborough-based MassTech Collaborative has granted $25,000 each to the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce and the North Central Massachusetts Development Corp. to develop a strategic plan for a program to help local entrepreneurs.

JC Ferreira Construction, Inc., a Leominster contractor specializing in utility and road construction, received a $112,500 loan from the North Central Massachusetts Development Corp. to fund the purchase of new equipment.

Newlywed Sean Kelly co-founded Solvus Global with Aaron Birt to research solutions to problems plaguing the business world, by spinning off companies addressing those specific needs.

MassHire Central Region Workforce Board has signed a 10-year lease on a new 6,500-square-foot space in the Southbridge Innovation Center, according to a Monday press release by Southbridge Associates, which owns and operates the 1.2-million-square-foot business park.

Family-owned Worcester butcher and grocer D'Errico's Market has closed its Cambridge Street location after almost two years, according to the company's Facebook page.

Fitchburg and Leominster single family home sales rose 18% year-over-year in August, following a 21% climb in July year-over-year.

The Worcester Metropolitan Statistical Area seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate climbed to 3.8% in August, from 3.7% in July.

The president of the restaurant group behind The Fix Burger Bar has purchased the location next to its Bocado Tapas Wine Bar in Worcester.