Here's what's planned for the former Muzi site

By Charles River Regional Chamber

4/13/2022

It's the most visible, undeveloped parcel in any of our communities.
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And now we’re getting a look the Bulfinch Companies' vision for the former Muzi Motors dealership along Route 128 in Needham.

The proposal includes two lab and office buildings (one five stories, the other three stories) connected by a two-story glass atrium, reports Catherine Carlock at the Globe.

The 9.27-acre site would also have a multipurpose outdoor trail with exercise areas, roof decks, ground-level retail, community space and a five-story parking garage.

Bulfinch -- which acquired the property after a rezoning last year for $57.5 million -- will also pick up the cost of substantial traffic mitigation improvements along Gould Street. (That's Gould in the foreground of the rendering.)

?The company is expected to go before the Planning Board in June.

The project is not aligned with any tenants at this time. Bulfinch says they will decide once permitting is complete whether or not to wait for a commitment or build on spec.

BBJ story here.

The south of the Pike life sciences cluster

Bulfinch says they're developing the former Muzi parcel for either life science companies or office tenants.

But if they put bets on such things in Las Vegas, heavy odds are that it will host a lab tenant, or tenants, because that's where the market demand is these days.

That would solidify our stretch along Route 128 south of the Mass Pike as home to a significant life sciences cluster, including:

Bulfinch's portfolio already includes lab space in the Needham Crossing section of the N-Squared district just down the road. And Taurus recently acquired Wells Park in Newton, home to biotech Karyopharm.

Beacon Capital Partners has applied to convert part of its office complex into lab at the Route 9 exit in Wellesley. And a second Wellesley lab facility could land just next door at 96 Worcester Street, site of the recently downsized Sun Life, with Nordblom the likely developer there.

Alexandria Real Estate has already transitioned part of Riverside Center on Grove Street in Newton to labs and is partnering with Mark Development on two lab buildings just down the road at the Riverside MBTA Station.

And Greatland Reality is converting the former Liberty Mutual campus in Weston in a project called Riverside Labs.

TripAdvisor founder to be honored by chamber

Steve Kaufer, founder and outgoing CEO at TripAdvisor, will be our guest of honor at our annual Needham Night celebration, a virtual event happening on April 27 at 7 p.m.

Kaufer started the company 22 years ago above Kosta's Pizza & Seafood in Needham.

Under Kaufer, TripAdvisor played an important role in our region’s economic development and grew to become our largest private sector employer. He’s also been a good friend and supporter of the chamber, for which we will always be grateful.

As is our custom on Needham Night, we’ll also be honoring several other businesses and civic leaders. It’s free. Register here.

Wellesley says yes to accessory apartments

Wellesley Town Meeting sent a strong signal last night that it wants to be a more inclusive and welcoming community by approving an accessory dwelling unit zoning ordinance.

The vote was 187 in favor, 21 opposed.

The majority of speakers supported allowing single family home owners to create accessory apartments -- sometimes referred to as in-law apartments -- on their properties as a way to help address the housing crisis, affordability and climate goals. Others also spoke of the need to enhance diversity.

A few even said the ability to build an accessory unit would allow them to remain Wellesley residents once they downsize, making their larger home available to a new family.

Gender pay gap remains stubbornly persistent

Massachusetts has some of the strongest equal pay laws in the country.

And yet women still earn an average of $0.81 for every dollar that men make, a gap one cent less than the national pay gap, reports Boston Indicators. For Native American, Black, and Latina women that gap is even larger.

?While the size of our gender pay gap is almost double that of a state like California’s, and is bigger than gaps in 15 other states, there’s one silver lining, which is that absolute pay is higher for both men and women in Massachusetts than in most other states, the report’s authors add.

Other Need to Knows

Congratulations to Artie Crocker who was elected to the Needham Planning Board in last night’s town election. Heidi Frail, who ran in an uncontested contest, will join the Select Board. Results here.

U.S. inflation surged to a new four-decade high of 8.5% in March from the same month a year ago, driven by skyrocketing energy and food costs, supply constraints and strong consumer demand. The Globe’s Larry Edelman explains what it means and why it will be here for a while.

Former Globe film critic (and chamber member) Ty Burr will be appearing on the stage of Brookline’s Coolidge Corner Theatre (also a chamber member) tonight (Weds) as part of a screening of the screening Buster Keaton’s classic “The General” with live piano accompaniment. Details.

Eligible small businesses can now apply for as much as $15,000 in grants through the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. These targeted and supplemental grants do not need to be repaid and do not require businesses to accept an EID Loan. NFIB has details.

Court ruling enforces penalty for late payment of terminated workers

A decision recently handed down by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will result in a more rigid application of the state’s Wage Act and render violations more costly for employers, according to the Retailers Association of Mass.

The Court ruled that when an employer terminates an employee and fails to pay accrued wages on the day of discharge, as required by the Wage Act, the employer immediately becomes liable for treble the amount of the unpaid wages.

In effect, any employee paid late—regardless of the reason for the delay and even if the wages were subsequently paid by the employer—is now entitled to three times the total amount of wages in question.

This includes honest payroll errors and even good faith disputes over what an employee may be owed, according to RAM.

Hiring problem? Depends where you look

While businesses everywhere struggle to hire, Bitty & Beau’s coffee shop franchise group (there's a Massachusetts location in Melrose) says its attrition rate is near zero.

That’s because Bitty and Beau's primarily hires workers from a demographic advocates say has an unemployment rate above 80%: people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, according to Bloomberg.

“There’s an untapped labor force of people with disabilities in every community,” says co-founder Amy Wright. “Most of our employees have never had a job.”

Here's the video (a members-only benefit) from our recent chamber webinar about the state’s HireNow program and different pipelines for finding and training workers.

Please watch your inbox tomorrow

Need to Knows will be off for the rest of this week and, with Patriots Day next Monday, this newsletter will return one week from today, Weds. April 20.

But please watch your inbox tomorrow for our annual survey.

It's your chance to tell us about the issues that are of the greatest concern to your business and nonprofit.

?Thanks in advance for making time to complete it.

See you next week! Happy Fenway opener, Passover, Easter and Patriots Day.

That’s Need to Knows for today, unless you need to know about Santa Claus' plans to keep Sarah Palin from occupying a seat in Congress.

Greg Reibman (he, him)
President
Charles River Regional Chamber
617.244.1688

Newton, Needham, Watertown, Wellesley

Here's what's planned for the former Muzi site

Here's what's planned for the former Muzi site

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