State sees green in golf courses

The state is spending millions to bring operations back up to par at Leo J. Martin Memorial Golf Course in Weston and Canton's Ponkapoag Golf Course, where it hopes one day to host a major pro tournament.

The Department of Conservation and Recreation's plan for "Ponky" includes $2.6 million to reopen nine closed holes at the 36-hole course, plus drainage improvements already under way and an irrigation project slated to start this spring.

DCR Commissioner Ed Lambert said conditions at the courses haven't always been the best, but the state has hired new managers, reclaimed golf cart and driving range operations from private vendors and purchased 120 new carts.

"Now we'll be making the profit and putting it back into the operation," he said. "It will be used to pay some of the investment in staff and capital that allows us to raise even more money."

Golfers' fees will remain at current levels and cart rentals will cost less. Both courses also will start accepting reserved starting times for Friday through Sunday and holidays.

The 77-year-old Donald Ross-designed Ponkapoag and the 18-hole Leo J. Martin course, which opened in 1930, are "great old establishment courses that people always have been passionate about," said Joe Sprague, executive director of the Massachusetts Golf Association, which promotes amateur golf in the state.

"If they're going to keep the prices the same and have the conditions improve, that's a win-win for golfers," said Sprague.

The improvements follow unsuccessful efforts to privatize the courses in years past. Last year, the Legislature agreed to let the DCR keep 80 percent of its revenue, up to $14 million annually, instead of returning it all to the state's general fund and awaiting a smaller re-appropriation. That allows the courses to now serve as "profit centers," according to Lambert.

"It's really an entrepreneurial way for us to operate, and it reduces costs to taxpayers," he said. "This year … we've already increased (the overall DCR) revenue stream from $1 million to $2 million."

The DCR will host a public hearing today at Ponkapoag to discuss the proposed changes.

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Fisher buy baits back bay

Beacon Hill and Suffolk University may have buried the hatchet, but another town-gown battle is brewing in Boston as Fisher College eyes an expansion in Back Bay.

The private liberal arts school recently started mapping out its development plans with the city and just bought an Arlington Street property that sits well beyond its academic core on the first block of Beacon Street.

The moves are rankling residents — who fear more students will settle into new dorms amid their multimillion-dollar condos — and threatening a fragile, decade-long peace between Fisher and an influential neighborhood group.

"Things have shifted from how do we work this out, to how do we stop them," said Peter Sherin, a director at the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay. "And the next thing is how do we get them out."

Neighbors are challenging Fisher's zoning rights to use several buildings for classrooms or dorms, a change they say would effectively create a quad that diminishes the residential character of Beacon Street.

Fisher spokeswoman Jennifer Courtney said the 818-student school operates within the zoning code and is in the early stages of a master plan, a first for Fisher as it eyes "modest" growth in the decade ahead.

"We're not trying to create any enemies," she said. "We're constantly working with the neighbors and there's an open-door policy."

A task force set up by the Boston Redevelopment Authority meets March 28. "We'll work with the institution and the community on a sensible, appropriate and responsible expansion plan," said BRA spokeswoman Melina Schuler.

Fisher was forced to clamp down on disruptive student behavior in 2001 after a shooting outside a dance led to licensing board scrutiny. These days, Fisher responds aggressively to complaints, many of which turn out to be unrelated to its students, Courtney said.

Still, some neighbors wish Fisher would follow the lead of Emerson College, which shifted student housing to the Theatre District. On Beacon Hill, Suffolk University eased tensions by increasing the size of the non-expansion zone around its campus.

Howard Kassler, a neighborhood group leader, remains hopeful the town-gown tussle won't blow up to Suffolk proportions.

"My personal sense is that is not the way it's going," he said. "Like the people on Beacon Hill, we've spent a long time — years and years and years — ensuring the Back Bay remains the Back Bay. The historic district means so much to us."

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Firm makes it a Snap to pay around the world

Truly global commerce where merchants can take payment in almost any major currency is getting a boost from an Israeli firm that just opened offices in Waltham.

BlueSnap powers transactions in 145 countries and 28 currencies, said Ralph Dangelmaier, who took over as CEO six months ago.

"We're pretty confident when merchants use us, we increase their business 20 to 40 percent," Dangelmaier said. "It's because we offer lots of payment types, so it's easy to pay, and in their own language."

BlueSnap, whose main competitor is eBay-owned PayPal, also allows merchants to run promotions and it offers subscription billing on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis, he said. They pay between 
2 percent and 8 percent of each transaction, depending on what they're selling, the type of payment and where it's coming from.

Founded in Israel in 2002 under the name Plimus, BlueSnap has had offices in Silicon Valley since 2006, and it's expanding in all three locations, Dangelmaier said.

In 2011, Great Hill Partners of Boston bought controlling interest of the company for $115 million.

"It seemed like a pretty decent bet that more businesses were going to be selling software content and subscription services online over the next five to 10 years," said Matt Vettel, managing partner at Great Hill Partners.

Today, BlueSnap has about 120 employees and about 5,000 clients worldwide, most of them outside the United States, Dangelmaier said. PayPal is one of its competitors, but doesn't customize screens for merchants, allow promotions or subscriptions, or accept as many payment types, he said.

"We think we've built a better mousetrap," Dangelmaier said.

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State picks Pike's peak

Hub developers Samuels & Associates and Weiner Ventures got a green light from the state to build a $360 million residential, hotel and retail project over the Mass Pike — big plans in the Back Bay that could get even bigger.

The real estate firms won a lengthy competition for two key air-rights parcels with twin developments that promise to raise cash for taxpayers and transform the intersection of Boylston Street and Massachusetts Avenue.

"It really fills in part of the Back Bay that really, simply put, needs to be filled in," developer Adam Weiner said yesterday after the Massachusetts Department of Transportation announced its selection. "It really needs more energy and greater vibrancy."

With the state-owned sites all but secured, the Samuels/Weiner team will pursue an adjacent air-rights parcel owned by insurance giant Prudential Financial to extend the development farther down the block. Prudential had teamed with losing bidder Chiafaro Co. on a 29-story office tower on its parcel and the state-owned Parcel 15.

Meanwhile, according to sources familiar with the situation, Samuels/Weiner are working on a deal to buy a Dalton Street parking garage, across from the Hynes Convention Center, where the development could expand even more.

Onetime air-rights bidder Carpenter & Co. of Cambridge dropped out of the running last summer after failing to make a deal with garage owner Pilgrim Parking. Carpenter had planned a 16-story office tower on the site, next to a 200-room hotel.

Weiner declined comment about a garage deal. He noted a Prudential executive said during a community meeting that the company would "act accordingly" with whichever developer is designated.

"We look forward to having conversations with them," Weiner said. "The project doesn't depend on it, but obviously it seems to be a natural (extension)."

A Prudential spokesman declined comment. Ted 
Oatis, co-founder of the Chiofaro Co., said the developer "would welcome the opportunity to work contemporaneously" with the Samuels/Weiner team.

MassDOT is finalizing a 99-year lease with initial payments of $18.5 million from the developers. State transportation chief Richard Davey said the Samuels/Weiner proposal "provides the best overall value and long-term benefit to the city of Boston."

The project, subject to city permitting, calls for a 32-story hotel and residential tower across Parcel 15 and a St. Cecilia Street parcel the developers bought from the Archdiocese of Boston for nearly $14 million in 2008 — with the development in mind all along.

On Parcel 12, an L-shaped structure would include a mid-rise residential building along Boylston and a two-story retail building over the Pike along Mass. Ave., capitalizing on nearby Newbury Street's posh shopping district.

The two sites total 230 residential units, a 270-room hotel and 50,000 square feet of shops and restaurants. It was the consensus favorite of a powerful Back Bay citizens advisory committee that reviewed all of the plans.

"Covering up the Mass Pike will knit the Back Bay together," said Meg Mainzer-Cohen, president of the Back Bay Association, who served on the panel. "We think the hotel is going to be very exciting. This is the hottest hotel market in Boston, and right next to (the Hynes) is an ideal site."

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Mustering a new tenant for Navy Yard landmark

The Muster House — an unusual, octagonal building that served as a worker assembly point at the Charlestown Navy Yard in the 1800s — will have a new leasehold owner for the first time in more than 15 years.

The owner of a building consulting firm in Cambridge is finalizing a deal and may relocate his business to the 31 Fifth St. property, which has been owned by the Boston Redevelopment Authority since a 1970s handover by the federal government.

"From a community point of view, it's always good to see an active user in that building," said Mark Rosenshein of the Charlestown Neighborhood Council. "It's a very small and unique space, so it takes a very unique user to make it work."

Though tiny at less than 2,900 square feet and well off the Hub office market's beaten path, the Muster House drew the likes of dot-com darling Jeff Taylor. The Monster founder picked the historic pad for his Eons startup, working solo there for the first few weeks.

"An entrepreneur starts in a very lonely place," Taylor told Bloomberg News in 2006. "It's when you think you have a great idea and everyone around you thinks you're crazy, and you act on it."

Built between 1852 and 1854, the four-story brick building is surrounded by a porch and topped by a clock tower. Shipyard workers mustered daily at the sign, receiving assignments and pay. The landmark is down the street from the USS Constitution's berth.

The next tenant may be Building Enclosure Associates, whose owner, Michael Velji, is close to finalizing a purchase of the lease from the Royalston Trust.

Velji was not available for comment, but an executive at the firm, Ed Mannix, said a deal may be done later this month.

The Royalston Trust was set up by the late Werner Bundschuh, a filmmaker and local real estate developer who acquired the Muster House lease at a foreclosure auction in 1997. At the time, the trust assumed a 65-year lease with the BRA, paying about $4,300 a year and taking responsibility for renovations and maintenance.

"We actually had quite a bit of interest," said Nancy Kueny, a broker at Gibson Sotheby's International Realty handling the lease sale for the trust. "It's probably one of the most interesting buildings in the Navy Yard."

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Media Google-y eyed over glasses idea

If you've paid any attention to technology-related news recently, you might think that by the end of the year we'll all be like Tom Cruise in "Minority Report," sporting retina-scanning glasses with a gestural interface in the form of Google's Project Glass.

But what's lost in all the media fawning is that Google actually has produced something between a really cool virtual tour-guide and a hands-free smartphone. Not quite the augmented reality game-changer that is being portrayed. For now.

Google, or specifically co-founder Sergey Brin, has done a masterful job of marketing a fantasy, tapping into our collective craving for the next game-changing device. The company has not only driven its stock price to an all-time high, but also crowd-sourced the vision for whatever eventually becomes of Project Glass.

But the hype may have gotten out of hand recently. A few days ago, Brin was actually downplaying expectations: "It's by no means a done deal yet," he said, adding that we shouldn't trust purported prototypes that show up on eBay.

The interesting psychology of Google's strategy aside, the fact is that some sort of glasses will become available to some segment of consumers soon — for about $1,500. The few who have tested this device report that in a controlled environment for a short period of time under certain circumstances, Google's glasses can take videos and photos, forecast the weather, receive email and relay directions — provided there's a cellphone to connect with.

Though I'm as psyched as anyone to get my hands on these things, whatever they are, I predict that Google's glasses will compete directly with another product that requires a smartphone to work, and that it won't win. Apple's rumored iWatch will wear more discreetly, and it will be cheaper, too.

I predict the glasses will have the battery life of a first-generation smartphone and will be similar to Segways — the province of mall cops, group tours and the eccentric rich, but another novelty cast aside by the mainstream.

Even if Google fully achieves its vision, there's still the giant impediment of getting people comfortable with the idea of looking and sounding silly, talking to oversized bifocals as they walk.

But don't misunderstand: I'd love to get a pair. So Google ... if you're reading this ... can I expect my review glasses soon?

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Boston’s Pongr gains Sightec

A new technology deal inked with Israeli startup Sightec has Hub-based 
Pongr thinking about the big picture.

The mobile photo marketing company said its "significant" acquisition of Sightec's super-resolution software will help Pongr pinpoint harder-to-find brands and products in photos consumers take across social networks, thereby offering advertisers more marketing opportunities.

"We think we've gotten really good at how to do direct response photo marketing for brands. This is about scaling it up and doing it through these other networks," Pongr CEO Jamie Thompson, 32, told the Herald. "We needed some robust technology in order to do that."

Thompson said Sightec's technology can improve image quality 10 times over typical image enhancement results, and detect people and objects within pictures regardless of whether they are in the foreground or background.

"If it's a birthday party, and you take a picture of your wife or loved one celebrating their birthday and there happens to be Mountain Dew on the table, we want to know that Mountain Dew is part of that birthday celebration," he said. "It's very, very hard to analyze billions and billions of photos looking for items, or objects, or things, or people that might be of interest to advertisers because consumers may not necessarily be tagging them."

Founded in 2008, Pongr asks consumers to use their mobile phone cameras to snap shots of outdoor billboards, bus stop advertisements, products and magazine pages in return for rewards that are messaged back to their phones. The company has previously done major promotional campaigns with brands like Pepsi, Mountain Dew and Frito-Lay.

The company will keep Sightec's scientific team in Tel Aviv for now, with plans to add more scientists and engineers in the Israeli city as part of the "all-stock deal," Thompson said.

Thompson added that Sightec's technology, when applied to the Pongr platform, has greater ability to match mobile and desktop ads with the contextual relevance of photos consumers take with their mobile devices and share across networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr.

"As we stand now on the tip of the iceberg of a new era of user-generated visual content, we think visual content needs to be matched up better to how the Internet is monetized," he said. "If advertisers can't take advantage of this content, then the money they spend on ads is not as relevant as it could be."

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Burlington's apples shine

Burlington High School, which gives every student an iPad to keep until graduation, has become a poster child for tech giant Apple.

The company will present staff and students with the Apple Distinguished School award on March 13 and laud the school's efforts to transform classroom learning through the company's technology on its website.

"It's nice for the staff and students to be recognized," Principal Mark Sullivan said yesterday. "This is our second full year using the iPad, and I think the biggest measure of success is that it's helped our kids become more creative and engaged in their classrooms."

Using different apps, students in psychology class, for example, are able to see a 3-D image showing each part of the human brain on their iPads, while students in anatomy class are able to see an image of a cat's anatomy. Teachers post homework on their blogs, and students, who have the option of buying the iPad at market price when they graduate, are able to compile curated portfolios of their writing or artwork that they can present to colleges or to employers in the future.

Dylan Smith, a 16-year-old junior, writes papers on his iPad, while Adriana Berardi, one of his classmates, takes notes on it.

"There is game-playing, but people are pretty disciplined with them," Smith said. "I honestly thought a lot of the teachers would not know how to use them, but it's worked out."

To help anyone who has a problem, the high school has designated its own version of Apple's "Genius Bar," staffed by a teacher and a handful of students each period, as part of a course for which they earn credit.

In all, more than 2,000 Burlington students have iPads at their disposal. In addition to high schoolers, there's one for every student in grades six through eight at Marshall Simonds Middle School; one first grade class in each of the town's four elementary schools; and every fourth and fifth grader at Pine Glen Elementary School, said Assistant Superintendent Patrick Larkin.

Even though elementary and middle school students can't take the devices home, the virtual blackboards are helping first-graders spell out words and increase their journal writing output, Larkin said, while older students are becoming better organized through apps like Explain Everything, Evernote and Genius Scan.

"We're supposed to be preparation for the real world, so what's going on in here should look like the real world," Larkin said. "We're getting our kids comfortable with resources they can use, no matter what device they're on. That's been a big focus for us."

Burlington schools pay for the iPads over a three-year period through an Apple equity lease program, he said, and their goal is to have one for every student in the district within two years. To date, Apple has sold more than 4.5 million iPads to U.S. schools.

Students are currently using the iPad 2, but school officials may invest in updated IPad models or iPad Mini, Larkin said.

"The thing we need to be clear on is we do have to monitor kids' screen time when they have their face in a device," Larkin said, adding the school district holds monthly "parent technology nights" to address any concerns parents may have over excessive technology use. "Obviously we still want to teach the social skills we've always taught."

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You can change filing status for Mass.

You can change filing status for Mass.

Tax season is upon us and the Herald's TaxSmart experts are here every Friday to help.

Today, Joy Child of Alexander, Aronson, Finning & Co. of Westboro discusses federal and state filing statuses.

Can I file as head of household on my federal return, but file as single on my state return? In other words, do I have to use the same filing status for both federal and state? I do qualify for both.

— bshaw69

Yes, you can file as head of household on your federal return and as single on your state return. However, the exemption is larger if you file as head of household on the Massachusetts return so there would be no advantage to filing as single. You cannot file as head of household on the Massachusetts form unless you also qualify as head of household on the federal return.

Massachusetts does not require you to use the same filing status that you used for federal purposes, as long as you qualify for the status that you use.

To further complicate matters, since the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriages, but Massachusetts does, a person in a same-sex marriage can file as single or as a head of household (if other requirements are met) for the federal return.

However, in Massachusetts, a same-sex married couple can only file as married filing jointly or as married filing separately. They do not have the option of filing as single or as head of household, since they are, in fact, married under state law.

Email your TaxSmart questions to bizsmart@bostonherald.com

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High-end home sales on a roll

Sales of high-end homes surged in 2012, as wealthy owners rushed to list their properties and buy new ones to avoid the capital-gains tax hikes in January that were part of the "fiscal cliff" deal.

The momentum has carried over into 2013, with sales of luxury properties staying strong despite the higher tax rates. The first two months of 2013 saw 30 properties over the $2 million level sell, roughly the same as a year ago when 31 such sales were made.

Meanwhile, the number of high-end homes under contract is higher now than a year ago. In the first two months of 2013, there were 66 condos and single-family homes worth at least 
$2 million under agreement, versus 55 in the same span of 2012.

To highlight the trend, here's a look at a few recent luxury sales:

37 Thatcher St., Westwood

Selling for $3,015,000, this four-bedroom, Gambrel-style home measures 9,400 square feet and sits on about 3.5 acres of landscaped grounds.

The estate's layout features a grand foyer; a gourmet kitchen with a separate breakfast room and a butler's pantry; formal living and dining rooms; and a 32-by-20-foot family room flanked by a sunroom terrace. The master suite includes a bath, dressing room and sitting room.

There are 10 fireplaces in the main house, and the cottage house has a four-car garage and a tack room. A pool house accompanies the in-ground swimming pool.

173 West Brookline St., Boston

This classic South End bowfront single-family home sold for $2,500,000. The 3,931-square-foot home has five bedrooms plus an au pair suite, 31⁄2 baths, and some of the most beautifully restored original detail in the neighborhood.

Elegant double parlors have high ceilings, gorgeous moldings and mantles. There is a formal dining room with butler's pantry, an eat-in kitchen that opens out to rear deck and garden, central air conditioning and deeded parking spaces for two cars.

17 Yarmouth Road, Brookline

Selling for an even $2 million, on one of Chestnut Hill's most prestigious streets in Brookline, was this five-bedroom, 51⁄2 bath Colonial.

The stately, 3,256-
square-foot property has a three-car garage and enough parking for 10 cars. Grand mature trees on the acre-plus lot surround a large in-ground pool with a separate pool house.

580 Walnut St., 
Newton

On Bullough's Pond, a recently renovated and expanded Victorian home sold for $2,250,000. The 4,625-square-foot home has five bedrooms that encompass three floors as well as a walk out lower level. The living room has an open floor plan to the great dining room as well as an eat-in kitchen with custom cabinets, an island and high end appliances.

Penthouse 1 at The Clarendon, Boston

This posh three-bedroom spread in the Back Bay residential tower developed by the Related Cos. and Beal Cos. sold for $6,500,000.

The three-bedroom plus library penthouse measures 3,545 square feet and features a private terrace with panoramic views of Boston. The property comes with garage parking for two cars.

Jennifer Athas, a licensed real estate broker, can 
be reached by email at heraldhotproperty@
gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenAthas.

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