North County

Two properties in Gardner’s downtown sold for $926,000 to an investment firm with a history of redevelopment projects in the city, according to a Friday release from the Gardner mayor's office.

Among the organizations making recent hires and promotions are Fidelity Bank, Berkshire Bank, UMass Memorial Health, and AdCare Hospital.

Overall, more than 20,000 PPP loans for a total of $1.8 billion were given out to businesses across Worcester County, with more than 4,800 and $450 million of those loans going to businesses within the city of Worcester, according to data from the SBA.

Central Massachusetts manufacturers must rise to meet demand and the challenges of the current crisis, using innovation and partners, according to a slate of experts at Worcester Business Journal's Central Mass Manufacturing Summit & Awards event Thursday at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester.

The bank’s growth in assets mainly came from securities, which rose $84 million from the 2020 fiscal year, and net loans, which increased by $48 million.

MassDevelopment, the state’s economic development financing agency, awarded $315,175 to a developer planning to redevelop a vacant three-story building in downtown Fitchburg.

Three community health centers in Central Massachusetts have been selected among 22 centers across the state by MassDevelopment for its Community Health Center Grant Program. 

The New England Newspaper & Press Association has given nine journalism awards to Worcester Business Journal at part of the 2021 Better Newspaper Competition, honoring stories on the legacy of slavery in Central Massachusetts, housing discrimination in Worcester, and attempts to narrow racial and gender pay gaps.

Emerald Place, a roughly 26-acre apartment complex on Lake Whalom in Lunenburg, sold for $76 million on Friday, according to the Worcester North District Registry of Deeds.

Heywood Healthcare, one of the last independent community healthcare systems in Central Massachusetts, has agreed in principle to join the UMass Memorial Health system, seeking to become part of the network with facilities in Worcester, Marlborough, Leominster, Clinton and Southbridge.