Major train route adds state stops

GREENFIELD — State transportation officials will be shouting "All aboard!" Amtrak's Vermonter train starting Dec. 29, restoring passenger service to new stations in the western Massachusetts cities of Greenfield, Northampton and Holyoke for the first time in some 30 years.

Stepping off a gleaming cobalt blue PanAm locomotive yesterday at a historic former rail stop in Greenfield, Gov. Deval Patrick announced the state and PanAm have entered into an agreement for the commonwealth to purchase 49 miles of railway between East Northfield and Springfield nicknamed the Knowledge Corridor that will help boost tourism, enhance freight service and reduce truck traffic. "While the train is beautiful, it's about jobs and economic development," Patrick said. "This is going to be great fun."

The project is being funded by a $75 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration and $40 million in state funds.

The Vermonter currently runs from St. Albans, Vt., to Washington, D.C., stopping locally only in Amherst and Springfield.

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GE brings good things to Massachusetts

GE Healthcare Life Sciences' new $21 million headquarters for U.S. operations will open in Marlboro next year, the company said yesterday, bringing 220 new jobs in the fast-growing industry to the state.

"Our new facility in Massachusetts will position us for continued innovation and competition in such a fast-paced, innovative industry," said Kieran Murphy, president and CEO, in a statement. "We will be close to industry-leading talent, customers, and world-class academic and medical institutions across all the industry sectors we serve, from biotech and pharma, to diagnostics and medical devices."

The headquarters, scheduled to open in spring 2015, will establish a new site for more than 500 employees and create more than 220 new jobs, company officials said.

"Today, Massachusetts' life sciences sectors are the fastest-growing sectors of our economy. We look forward to welcoming the U.S. life sciences headquarters of GE Healthcare and are pleased that the company will create a substantial number of new, STEM-related job opportunities in central Massachusetts," Gov. Deval Patrick said in the statement.

A currently unoccupied space will be transformed into state-of-the-art labs, customer application facilities, and office space to complement the company's existing manufacturing capability in Westboro.

"This GE Healthcare Life Sciences investment ... is proof that innovation is thriving outside Route 128," said Marlboro Mayor Arthur Vigeant in the statement.

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City to assess rental websites

A Boston city councilor wants to take a closer look at the practices of several short-term rental websites after hearing complaints ranging from raging parties to homes and apartments where tenants cycle through like revolving doors.

"I had constituents call and complain about people coming into their neighborhoods. One person said that new people were moving into an apartment every week," said City Councilor Salvatore LaMattina, who today will ask for a fall hearing regarding companies such as Airbnb, Flipkey and HomeAway. "Another person had concerns about people moving in weekly and throwing loud parties in the backyard. I just get more and more phone calls."

Airbnb and other similar companies connect 
homeowners with short-term renters in a practice that has caused controversy in other cities. San Francisco and Portland, Ore., have started assessing hotel taxes on the rentals, according to LaMattina, and Chicago and New Orleans are considering regulations.

Locally, Quincy authorities recently fined a 
homeowner using Airbnb for a zoning violation, according to City Solicitor James Timmons.

"We haven't gotten into the bigger picture of how Airbnb works in Quincy as a whole," Timmons said. "We're approaching this on a fundamental level. If a 
homeowner lives in a certain zoning district, they can't do this. They can't allow people who aren't related to them to lodge and pay to stay."

An Airbnb spokesman said the company stands behind its service.

"We've been speaking with leaders in Boston and look forward to addressing their questions and ensuring the sharing economy continues to thrive," said spokesman Nick Papas.

LaMattina said he hasn't yet passed judgment on Airbnb, but he wants to meet with the Fire Department, the Inspectional Services Department and others to see where the company fits in.

"I just want to learn about it and see if it's legal," he said. "We need to see what controls there are in this industry."

Airbnb said it has controls in place, including requiring hosts "to agree to comply with all local laws and building codes," according to a statement.

Companies such as Airbnb, which boasts more than 17 million visitors, "aren't a flash in the pan. They're here to stay," according to an expert.

"You can't say these are trends. That's a bit naive," said John Fareed, a Florida-based hotel consultant. "They have a following among consumers in a big way. They have an edge. They're seen as an opportunity for the people, and I think they appear to be a viable underdog."

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Loan repayment is key to Market Basket sale

Talks to sell the beleaguered Market Basket grocery chain to Arthur T. Demoulas are not about sale price, but a key factor that has emerged is how much the ousted CEO would pay upfront for the family business, according to sources briefed on the negotiations.

The down payment is one of myriad complex deal points still to be hashed out by a self-imposed Friday deadline, but the final figure could affect many other factors, including the schedule on which future payments would be made, the sources said.

Arthur T. Demoulas has characterized his undisclosed offer last week as "pre-crisis," referring to a point about a month ago, before Market Basket employees walked off the job to protest his ouster and sales plunged due to mostly halted product shipments.

Market Basket generated about $4 billion in revenue last year, pegging the value of the 50.5 percent of shares owned by the other side of the Demoulas family — led by Arthur T.'s cousin and rival, board chairman Arthur S. Demoulas — at around $1.5 billion.

Demoulas' backers will likely want to see proof that the chain can generate revenue again before going all in on the deal, sources said. The risk for him is whether he could bring the 71-store chain back to its profitability so he can repay his backers.

While other potential suitors for the grocery chain have been discussed — chief among them the parent company of Hannaford Bros. Co. — Kevin Griffin, publisher of the Griffin Report of Food Marketing, said a deal with Arthur T. is the "only one that makes sense."

"(Market Basket) is a company that's at a virtual standstill," Griffin said. "I can't imagine anybody who has a fiduciary responsibility in making these decisions to make a purchase … could in good faith write a check for a company that's basically nonexistent today."

Independent Market Basket board member Ronald G. Weiner said he couldn't speak on sale negotiations, but offered, "It's in process, and hopefully it will be brought to a conclusion."

Gov. Deval Patrick and New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan convened the parties Sunday to hammer out a deal. State Sen. Eileen Donoghue (D-Lowell) said, "It's gotten very, very quiet as far as what's actually happening. Maybe that's a good sign. Maybe that means they are serious about resolving it. I remain hopeful that cooler heads will prevail, and that something will be salvaged here. If not, I think it could a big problem in these parts for a long time."

Also yesterday, several Market Basket vendors said they have stopped doing business with the company out of allegiance to Arthur T., putting further pressure on Arthur S. to cut a deal.

Yell-O-Glow, a banana processor and grocery distributor in Chelsea, laid off 30 people yesterday after deciding several weeks ago to cut ties after more than 60 years because it "lost all faith in this current regime," board member George J. Markos said.

"We're sort of appalled that this current regime has such utter disregard for the other stakeholders — the public, the customers, the vendors and the employees," Markos said. "And, if the current board was competent, they could recognize the … problem: the current management group can't get it done, and they could fix it in a moment by reinstating the old regime."

Paul Hatziiliades, owner of Watertown specialty food company Extra Virgin Foods, also stopped doing business with Market Basket. "I've temporarily cut ties with people in that building because I fully expect this to be over pretty soon and the proper management team to be back in business," Hatziiliades said.

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Gambling foes roll repeal dice

With less than a month to go before the state Gaming Commission is expected to decide who will get the sole Boston-area casino license, foes of legalized gambling are more focused on Nov. 4, when voters will decide whether to repeal the law and render the commission's decision moot.

With nearly 1,000 volunteers at its disposal, Repeal the Casino Deal, a coalition of anti-gaming groups, has kicked off its grassroots field operation, fanning out in cities and towns across the state to make phone calls and knock on doors, urging people to reject the gaming-brings-prosperity pitch of Wynn Resorts, which wants to build in Everett, and Mohegan Sun, which aims to build on the Revere side of Suffolk Downs.

"We feel the more voters know about casinos, the less likely they'll be to vote for them," said Darek Barcikowski, campaign manager for Repeal the Casino Deal. "If you look at Atlantic City and other communities that bought into the promises of casinos, we believe you'll agree casinos are not economic engines; they're economic vacuum cleaners. They suck up a huge chunk of the disposable income that would otherwise go to local businesses."

A spokesman for Wynn Resorts said the company is not involved in the referendum campaign. A spokesman for Mohegan Sun did not return a phone call. But casino foes are gearing up for a David vs. Goliath fight, expecting Wynn, Mohegan Sun and MGM, which wants to build in Springfield, to spend millions of dollars to try to defeat the repeal movement.

With that in mind, what Repeal the Casino Deal lacks in money, it intends to make up for through word of mouth, social media and boots on the ground.

Last week, for example, former U.S. Rep. Robert H. Steele (R-Conn.), one of several speakers the coalition has recruited, gave a talk at the Pittsfield Rotary Club about his state's experience with casinos. Other speakers who'll be addressing local clubs, chambers of commerce, houses of worship and political committees include former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone and Repeal the Casino Deal Chairman John Ribeiro.

"We don't have the resources casinos do," Barcikowski said. "But at the end of the day, when people have to choose between believing people from their own community or believing an outside industry, I think our message will resonate more."

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The Ticker

Third of Americans have no retirement savings

More than a third of American adults have no retirement savings, including 14 percent of those 65 years of age or older, according to a new study released yesterday. The low savings rate for people at or approaching retirement age is alarming, said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst for Bankrate.com, which conducted the survey.

About a quarter — 26 percent — of those age 50 to 64 haven't started saving for retirement, the survey said; the figure was 33 percent of people who are 30- to 49-years-old. Some 36 percent of adults have no retirement funds saved. Overall, 36 percent of those 18 years or older have not started saving for retirement, according to the survey of 1,003 adults.

Harbor Towers hires prof to look at Chiofaro Co.'s waterfront plan

Harbor Towers, the 43-year-old pair of Boston waterfront buildings with more than 1,100 residents, has engaged George Thrush, professor and director of the school of architecture at Northeastern University, for advice on proposed redevelopment plans for the Harbor Garage, owned by Hub developer Don Chiofaro and his partner, Prudential Real Estate Investments.

Thrush and a team of architects and urban planners will assess the recent proposal by the Chiofaro Co. to replace the garage with a mixed-use complex made up of two towers, 660 feet and 550 feet high, and totaling 1.3 million square feet.

Temazcal opening Lynnfield eatery

Temazcal Tequila Cantina, an upscale Mexican food restaurant, will open a new eatery in the MarketStreet development in Lynnfield this fall, and is now hiring 100 workers, including managers, bartenders, kitchen staff, hostesses and servers.

Today

 Commerce Department releases housing starts for July.

 Labor Department releases Consumer Price Index for July.

TOMORROW

 Federal Reserve releases minutes from its July interest rate meeting.

THE SHUFFLE

Ray LaPorte and Ted Desrosiers are joining Martha's Vineyard Financial Group, the wealth management division of Martha's Vineyard Savings Bank. LaPorte and Desrosiers, both affiliated with LPL Financial Services, bring more than 50 combined years of financial services experience. The new relationship will create the largest wealth management group on the island with $300 million in assets under management.

 Smarterer announced that Larry Israelite, an established learning and development executive, is joining its executive team as senior vice president of learning and assessments. Israelite brings over 30 years of enterprise experience to the team, and will play an instrumental role in shaping Smarterer's employee capability platform. Prior to Smarterer, Israelite served as the vice president of corporate learning and development for Liberty Mutual Insurance.

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MCCA plays up $1.1M temporary Lawn on D

The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority spent $1.1 million to build a lush open space in the Seaport District to host concerts, artwork and lawn games, but it will be usable for no more than two years before the acres of newly laid sod and rows of fencing are ripped up to make way for an expanded convention center.

James E. Rooney, head of the MCCA justified the expense of creating the new, 2.7-acre open space, dubbed The Lawn on D, as a working experiment that will help fine-tune plans for a permanent green space farther up the block where there are currently state transportation department buildings.

"The idea in our research on great open spaces is that most of it has been redesigned two or three times before it achieves greatness," Rooney said. "And there is a lot of money in building open space and then rebuilding it, and then rebuilding it again. Our idea is to make this part of the design process, experiment with it, figure out what we did wrong, program it, figure out what worked and didn't work. Then build it once."

Rooney acknowledged that much of the area that has been spruced up — a once rock- and gravel-covered field now wired with electricity and Wi-Fi, hooked up with water and landscaped with trees and grass — will be torn up in 18 months to two years as the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center gets a $1 billion, 1.3 million-square-foot add-on.

"It's not all throw-away. Some of it we will be able to reuse," said Rooney, who noted that the event space, when not in use by conventioneers, will be open to the public to play bocce and ping-pong, and enjoy live music and interactive art. "We wanted to create a sense of space in the South Boston waterfront. ... Think of it as a college quad, that you just go out and just hang out with your friends, with Wi-Fi."

The MCCA said in May it was paying HR&A Advisors $200,000 for the concept and the design, and Chris Wangro, another New York consultant, $50,000 to develop programming for the space.

It is also a walkable connection to and from the Convention Center, D Street and the Aloft and Element hotels, as required under an agreement the MCCA has with their developers.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh called the lawn "really a great way of showcasing our city."

"It gives the neighborhood a sense of pride," Walsh said. "Having The Lawn on D is another way to make our city more innovative."

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Boston online retailer Wayfair files for public offering

Boston-based online home goods retailer Wayfair filed paperwork for its initial public offering yesterday, a long-awaited move for a company that has seen more than $1 billion in sales during the past 12 months.

According to the paperwork filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Wayfair is hoping to raise up to $350 million in its IPO.

Wayfair sells furniture and other home goods, and said it took in $574.1 million in the first half of the year. Still, Wayfair took a $51.4 million loss, largely because of sales and marketing expenses.

William Preston, a research analyst at Renaissance Capital, said e-commerce companies have done well with their IPOs recently.

"We've seen pretty good success in e-commerce this year," he said.

Founded in 2002, Wayfair will likely be the first U.S. e-commerce company to go public this year. Other e-commerce offerings this year have been from foreign companies.

Preston said one of Wayfair's biggest challenges will be proving to investors it can coexist alongside Amazon, the established king of e-commerce.

Wayfair has raised $363 million in venture funding, but co-founders Niraj Shah and Steve Conine each still own 28.9 percent of the company.

Wayfair said in the filing it will trade under the symbol "W" on the New York Stock Exchange.

A spokeswoman for Wayfair declined to comment.

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Experts: GE Healthcare move will be healthy for Mass.

GE Healthcare's decision to move potentially hundreds of jobs to Massachusetts — and the already-existing cluster of major life sciences companies — could help reduce health care costs and create greater access to cutting-edge medical technology in the Bay State, an expert told the Herald.

"Having these companies close by where research staff are studying these diseases, it probably means our hospitals remain on the cutting edge of medicine," said Barry Bluestone of Northeastern University. "So when a breakthrough comes and it's FDA approved, the first who get to use it are probably patients in the Boston area. We probably do benefit — by being the first adopters of new medical breakthroughs."

The Herald reported yesterday that GE Healthcare is relocating its U.S. headquarters for its life sciences division from New Jersey, where it employs about 400 people, to Massachusetts. It already has an office in Westboro.

Cambridge officials plan to meet with GE Healthcare execs about possibly locating there, said Brian Murphy, the city's assistant manager for community development. He added the company hadn't found a permanent location yet.

GE Healthcare spokesman Benjamin Fox did not return messages yesterday.

Analyst Ross Muken of ISI International Strategy & Investment called the Massachusetts relocation "a fairly sensible move."

"Clearly they want to draw on the great biology talent, the chemistry talent in the region," said Muken. "I think given where the customer base is, it's a natural fit. ... In general, it solidifies the state as a hub of biomedical research and cutting-edge scientific talent."

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Boston docs look to help with Ebola

Boston-area researchers, responding to ambassadors from Ebola-stricken nations who are frustrated with a slow international response, are looking for ways they can help West Africa as the region grapples with the deadly outbreak.

"Organizations like CDC and WHO have come late into the process and have not helped them build their own capacity," Dr. Michael VanRooyan, director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, said after a meeting yesterday with current and former ambassadors from countries including Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Zambia and local researchers. They discussed having local experts train health care workers in Africa in both basic care and crisis management.

VanRooyan said there is frustration with the speed and scope of the world's response to the disease, adding that it took WHO far too long to declare the Ebola outbreak an international crisis.

"Moving forward, they need more than just a Band-Aid solution," VanRooyan said.

"Harvard is prepared to provide support to African countries through things like health care training, and to help overcome barriers in treating patients," said Mustapha S. Fofana of the Harvard-affiliated Fellowship in Disaster Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who reached out to the ambassadors and helped organize the meeting.

The World Bank has pledged up to $200 million in emergency assistance to help Liberia. WHO launched late last month a $100 million plan, which includes hundreds of health workers being dispatched to the infected areas.

But Sierra Leone Ambassador Bockari Stevens told the researchers the region is still desperately short of equipment, training and isolation units. The ambassadors could not be reached for comment after yesterday's meeting.

"Beyond dealing with just Ebola, there's an urgent need to support the organization of health care services," said Barry Bloom of the Harvard School of Public Health. "The international community is largely focused on diseases, but the real weakness is in the whole health systems themselves."

Bloom said the meeting focused on practical solutions, rather than vaccines and serums that "are not yet available, and will not be available anytime soon." The Canadian firm NewLink Genetics said Wednesday it will have enough doses of an Ebola vaccine to begin its human trials this summer.

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