North County

Collaborative workspaces in Worcester and Fitchburg took in $200,000 in funding announced Thursday by the Gov. Charlie Baker Administration.

Leo Ma Mall LLC, a division of Hull Property Group, a shopping mall management company based in Augusta, Ga., has purchased The Mall at Whitney Field in Leominster for $16 million.

Pier 1 Imports, the imported home furnishings retailer said up to 450 of its 942 stores are under consideration for closure, but it did not name specific locations. The Texas–based company operates Central Massachusetts stores in Bellingham, Framingham, Leominster, and Shrewsbury.

Keystone Real Estate LLC, a Pepperell entity managed Robert Stanieich and Anthony Serino, bought the 12,345-square-foot industrial property at 20 Lomar Park Drive in Pepperell for $1 million.

The property housing a Price Chopper grocery store in Gardner has been bought for $11.4 million by a San Diego investment firm.

Check out who being hired and promoted in the Central Massachusetts business community.

Faced with declining patient discharge numbers and seeing a chance to pare costs that didn’t directly affect patients, UMass Memorial Health Care leaders in Worcester made a tough financial choice to cut much of its executive ranks.

A former golfing center in Lancaster being developed into a solar energy site has been bought by a Maryland green energy investment firm for nearly $3.6 million.

While condo prices remain cheaper than single-family dwellings in most Central Massachusetts communities, rising condo prices can keep first-time homebuyers on the sidelines.

More retail stores are on the horizon, and their success will depend on being able to find enough shops to carve out a niche in an industry always increasingly dominated by Amazon and other giants.