Good morning, friends,

Here at your chamber, we’re always working to make sure our elected officials understand the challenges facing our businesses.

But the truth is, nothing is more effective than when our electeds hear directly from business owners.

That’s the idea behind the annual Massachusetts Small Business Summit, happening tomorrow (Weds.) from 10 a.m. to noon at the State House.  

Topics for this year’s event (organized by the National Federation of Independent Business and the Retailers Association of Massachusetts) include:

• Rising health insurance expenses (The commissioner of insurance will be attending)
• Unemployment Insurance tax hikes (We are paying back over $5 billion in UI debt while UI taxes continue to increase)
• High energy bills (An energy expert will present on what is causing prices to rise)
• Labor costs, credit card swipe fees, a $20 minimum wage and time-off policies will all be discussed too.

After the presentation, you’ll be encouraged to meet with elected officials to discuss how these and other policies affect you as an employer and job creator.

I hope to see you there.

After a flash of sanity, it’s back to derailing the economy and ripping apart families

For a Washington D.C. minute, it appeared as if a small but important bit of sanity had somehow crept into federal policy.

I’m talking about a statement by the president last Thursday that seemed to acknowledge that immigrant farm, hotel and restaurant workers were “almost impossible to replace.”

Sure enough, later that same day, regional ICE officials were directed to pause raids and arrests in the food and hospitality sectors, signaling perhaps a softening of the administration’s cruel  3,000 immigrant arrests a day quota.

But that was Thursday.

By Sunday, the president was back to directing ICE officials “to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.”

Globe columnist Larry Edelman tries to make sense of it all.  However, spoiler alert: None of this makes sense.

Here’s the Attorney General’s office Resources for Immigrants in Massachusetts webpage.

I value your input.

Wellesley’s lab/office building headed for auction

Three years ago, officials in Wellesley were optimistically planning to join the suburban lab building boom along Route 9, just off of I-95.

The labs were never leased. They were yet another victim of an oversaturated market that’s leading nearby projects, such as the former Muzi Ford dealership in Needham and Riverside Station in Newton, among others, to be reimagined without labs.

And now, the property at 93 Worcester St. that aimed to be the town’s first life science lab project is headed for the auction block, reports Steve Adams at Banker & Tradesman.

Beacon Capital Partners began permitting for the 284,435 SF lab/office building in 2022.  

The foreclosure auction is scheduled for July 17.

….While a Needham office building sells at a loss

Then there’s an office building just down the road in Needham that just changed hands, selling at a major discount, reports Grant Welker at the BBJ.

Wellesley-based Riverside Properties purchased the three-story, 135,000 SF, building at 160 Gould St. for $19 million.

That’s down from its 2012 sale price of $26 million.

And let’s not lose sight of this …

The deteriorating office building and lab market isn’t just a problem for existing owners and their investors.  

It’s a problem for municipal budgets, too, because they lose out on commercial property taxes that we all depend upon to fund essential services.

Tuesday grab bag

• A federal judge in Boston (who was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan) has ordered more than 800 National Institute of Health grants restored and had many sharply worded comments to accompany yesterday’s ruling.
• Our local independent news outlets captured the large crowds and imaginative signs at No Kings events in Wellesley, Newton and Needham on Saturday.  Conveniently, each event started at a different time, allowing me to attend all three.
• Eleven-term Newton City Councilor Vicki Danberg is not running for reelection. (Newton Beacon)
• Just Salad, the popular fast-casual brand known will open at The Street Chestnut Hill this fall.
• Formosa Bun & Dumpling Factory, specializing in Taiwanese street food, is taking over the space on Beacon Street in Newton Centre where Jake's Falafel Corner had been. (What Now Boston)
• The amazing Clark Ziegler will retire as executive director of Mass Housing Partnership in March of 2026. This year marks MHP’s 40th anniversary and Ziegler’s 35th year as CEO.
• We still have a few seats left for today’s (Weds.) Transportation Forum, 1 p.m. with MBTA GM Phil Eng at Tripadvisor.
• Tickets are now on sale for members (with an early-bird discount) and future members for our big 110th anniversary celebration on July 16 in West Newton.
• Mass General Brigham has launched its 2025 Community Health Survey, open to all Massachusetts residents age 18 and older through June 30. The results will help inform healthcare investments, services and programs across the state.
• Here’s what's open and closed on Juneteenth (Thurs.) in Massachusetts (WBUR)
• Be sure and read about how Cabot’s Ice Cream has successfully transitioned under new owners. (Boston Globe)  

Newton-bound company loses state contract to Irish firm

Waltham-based petroleum supplier Global Partners -- which plans to move its corporate HQ and 600 employees to Newton next year–– “is fuming because it was passed over” for an Irish company backed by private equity giant to redo the state’s 18 highway service plazas, writes the Globe’s Jon Chesto.

Global had offered to pay roughly 50 percent more in rent in its bid, according to its Senior VP of Real Estate Max Slifka.

He added that state highway officials are missing an opportunity to invest in a business with “deep Massachusetts roots” rather than handing off this important infrastructure “to outsiders with no proven stake in our state.”

Our women’s conference was a hit. Yes, we’ll do it again.

Momentum, our first-ever women’s conference, brought together nearly 200 attendees for a day filled with energy, insight and connection at Wellesley College on Friday.

The event (many photos here) featured opening remarks from Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and breakout sessions on topics including digital leadership and AI, building inclusive and authentic workplaces, wellness strategies for sustainable success and the power of local collaboration.

During the closing panel, moderated by WBUR’s Tiziana Dearing, speakers Gabby King Morse, Tracy Burns, and Eneida Roman shared candid reflections on their non-linear paths to success, highlighting key moments of self-discovery, the mentors who supported them and the importance of showing up for and supporting women leaders.

It couldn’t have happened without generous support from Insource Services, Direct Federal Credit Union, Wingate Living, Riptide LLC, William James College, Needham Bank, North Hill and Elisif Photography and our hosts at Wellesley College.

I was one of the few dudes in the room and it was a privilege to observe the enthusiasm, energy and connections built throughout the day. 

And yes, there will be a sequel.  

Our planning committee —Angela Pitter, Saleha Walsh, Marianne Cooley, Tiffany Zi Hua Chen, Stacey Coombs, Carolyn Cross, Danya Raphael, Michelle T. Simons, Liz Tavares and the chamber’s orchestra leader Katherine Herer – met yesterday and began talking about next year.

And that’s what you need to know for today —  the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill —  unless you need to know about the first-ever man-made solar eclipse.

RIP Graham Gund.

Please shop locally.

Greg Reibman (he, him)

President & CEO

Charles River Regional Chamber

617.244.1688