Newton Firm Lands Record Tech Deal
Newton Firm Lands Record Tech Deal
Good morning,
Max Woolf here, bringing you today’s newsletter.
Today is August 1, the deadline for countries strike deals with the Trump administration or face new tariff hikes.
Keeping up with every deal and new threat will give you a headache, but here are two good resources to help.
Developer mulls mega-project on Needham line
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A Dedham-based developer is floating plans for an expansive life science and mixed-use campus just over the Needham line.
Supreme Companies has begun early discussions with the Town of Dedham about redeveloping a 57 acres site off Route 128 at 300 West St., just across the Charles from Saint Seb's. and currently home to an Orthodox Church.
Though a formal filing is still about six months away, preliminary concepts shared with Dedham’s Planning Board earlier this summer outlined one sweeping proposal; that includes nearly 200,000 square feet of lab, clean tech, and office space across six buildings, along with almost 700 units of housing.
That scale might seem surprising given the sluggish lab market, but the developer is looking to press forward anyway.
Peter Zahka, the attorney representing Supreme, told the board the team is thinking long-term, expecting a two-year-plus permitting timeline that aligns with a potential market rebound.
He also emphasized that this is “a different product than places like the Muzi Ford site,” noting the project’s sprawling campus layout will attract future tenants.
Newton’s CyberArk sold in $25B deal
The largest acquisition of a public tech company anywhere in the world this year is coming out of Newton.
Chamber member CyberArk is set to be acquired by, the California-based, Palo Alto Networks in a $25 billion deal.
As reported by Lucia Maffei of the Boston Business Journal, the Newton-based company, with its U.S. headquarters in the Wells Avenue office park, will become part of the global cybersecurity firm in early 2026.
CyberArk employs about 300 people in Massachusetts and nearly 4,000 worldwide. It's acquisition reflects an inflection point in the industry as AI becomes the driving force in the cybersecurity space.
The $25 billion price tag not only eclipses all other Massachusetts tech acquisitions this year, including the $9.1 billion Blueprint Medicines deal, but may also go down as the largest public tech acquisition globally in 2025.
In other acquisition news
Needham-based accounting firm Sandler & Co. has been acquired by Aprio, an Atlanta-based firm, with the help of Charlesbank Capital Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm.
The deal follows Aprio’s June acquisitions of two Washington, D.C.–area firms and reflects the broader trend of private equity acquisitions reshaping the accounting industry nationwide.
Sandler & Co., founded in 1991 and known for serving hedge funds and law firms, also operates an office in the Cayman Islands. Founder and managing partner Don Sandler will now serve as a partner at Aprio.
Read the full story from the BBJ’s Ela Jalil and William Hall.
Repeal it or expand it?
Beacon Hill heard testimony this week on a wide-ranging set of bills aimed at modifying the MBTA Communities Act.
Many of the proposals sought to weaken the law, either by carving out exemptions for smaller communities or by creating new avenues to delay or appeal compliance.
Rep. Jeffrey Turco, a Democrat from Winthrop, opened the hearing with a fiery denunciation of the law, urging his colleagues to repeal the mandate "and send it to the ashbin of history where it belongs." At one point, he even likened the policy to a "Stalinist dictatorship."
But amid the hyperbole, Turco made one point that’s hard to ignore when he said “They exempted half the Commonwealth from this, including the largest city, Boston!"
It’s true. The law applies only to the 177 cities and towns served by the T, not the entire state or its most transit-rich city. For critics like Turco, that’s grounds for its full repeal. For others, it’s a reason to strengthen the law.
Matt Noyes, advocacy director for the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), testified against efforts to repeal the law but in favor of one Republican-led bill to extend the mandate statewide.
“The Legislature should build on the success of the MBTA Communities Act and require all municipalities to establish multi-family zoning districts,” Noyes said while also noting that 139 towns are now in compliance, and more than 4,000 homes are already in the development pipeline.
All cities and towns, not just those served by the T, can benefit from putting more residents near small businesses, restaurants, and job centers. And the idea that Boston, of all places, is exempt from this law is indefensible.
Friday Grab Bag
- The Healey-Driscoll Administration has recognized 43 municipalities across Massachusetts for housing leadership. None of our chamber communities made the list but there’s always next year, right? Read the complete list and the selection criteria.
- First-time Newton city council candidate Cryus Dahmubed has decided to run in Ward 4’s at-large race, where he will face off against first-time candidate John Chaimanis and incumbent Josh Krintzman for two seats.
Luke's Cafe, (the former Depot Cafe) in Upper Falls has reopened after being closed for over a year due to construction in front of their property. Newton Beacon has more.- With many of the Biden administration’s infrastructure investments facing cuts, now’s a good time to take stock of what’s already been funded. Here’s a map showing projects in our communities that were supported by the Inflation Reduction Act.
- The state’s first-ever diverging diamond interchange is coming to Massachusetts. Construction will soon begin at the intersection of Route 27 and Route 9 in Natick.
- Newton’s temporary commercial trash drop-off site, launched in response to the Republic Services strike, may not be getting much traction. Fig City News' Theo Younkin reports that the site’s usage appears limited.
- Newton Neighbors’ School Supply Drive, now underway through Aug. 4, is collecting backpacks, calculators, headphones, and other essentials for local students, in partnership with The Village Bank, Auburndale Community Library, and Fulfilled Goods.
- Newton Community Farm will host a Medicinal Herb Walk on Weds. Aug. 6 (5:30–7:00 p.m.), led by clinical herbalist Mo Katz-Christy, exploring the traditional and scientific uses of plants found on the farm.
T’s future is uncertain again
A year after a high-profile task force was formed to solve the MBTA’s long-term funding needs, the state budget will just barely leave the T with enough.
While the Governor’s Transportation Funding Task Force stopped short of recommending new revenue streams, its proposals would have stabilized the T for the next couple of years.
Instead, lawmakers approved a budget that comes in $80 million below what the T said it needed this year, reports Christian MilNeil of StreetsblogMass.
While their FY26 budget is technically “balanced,” likely from using dangerously low reserve funds, MBTA officials still project another shortfall as soon as next year.
Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, disagreed with this approach, emphasizing how “it's important for the MBTA to have multiple years of budget certainty to maintain momentum on work being done to improve service reliability and safety.”
We were impressed when General Manager Phil Eng spoke with us last month. Let’s give him the resources he needs to keep improving the system; not more task forces and fiscal crises.
Raising a stink in Wellesley
The world’s smelliest flower burst into bloom this week in Wellesley.
On Sunday night, in a rare and dramatic event, a corpse flower bloomed at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Elm Bank site in Wellesley.
While this wasn’t the plant’s first bloom (it partially opened two years ago), this time it was the real deal, lasting a full 32 hours.
“It’s going to smell like dead bodies. Like ancient, rotten, dead flesh. It makes you physically gag,” said James Hearsum, president and executive director of the horticultural society.
Despite the warning, The Swellesley Report says nearly 100 people were already in line to see the flower when the gates opened.
Want to witness the phenomenon without the smell? You can still catch a livestream of this week’s bloom.
And that’s what you need to know for today unless you need to know that a Watertown couple’s wedding party bus got “storrowed.”
Public Policy and Government Affairs Manager
Charles River Regional Chamber
617-431-6101
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