Wellesley Business Buzz: Aetna adding jobs; Bertucci’s bankruptcy; when Grossman’s closed; Babson focuses on family business

April 20, 2018 by bbrown 1 Comment

Here’s a round-up of the latest Wellesley business news:

Aetna adding Wellesley jobs

Aetna said this week that it’s expanding its Consumer Health and Services Organization (a.k.a., innovation hub) in Wellesley, and that will mean 250 jobs by 2020. This innovation hub focuses on building new products and services.

The health insurer had considered moving its headquarters from Hartford to Boston, but this will at least serve as a consolation prize.

Aetna will build out 80,000 sq. ft. at its current location at 93 Worcester St. on Rte. 9 to accommodate additional employees.

“This project reflects our ongoing commitment to the Boston area, a hotbed of talent for critical roles in consumer products, digital health, data science, analytics and marketing,” said Alex Vannoni, vice president of operations and strategy, CH&S, in a statement.

Bertucci’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing

The recent closing of the Wellesley Bertucci’s restaurant wasn’t the chain’s first closing of late and apparently it won’t be its last. The company this week filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it looks to retrench and remain in business.

“The transaction is intended to maximize value for all stakeholders through a fair, open Bankruptcy Court-approved sale process in which Bertucci’s will consider all bids for a sale or restructuring of the company,” the company said in a statement. Bertucci’s still has 59 restaurants open, but closed 15 others in announcing the Chapter 11 filing.

Bertucci's Wellesley MA

When did Grossman’s close?

A reader “with a family need” wrote to us asking when the old Grossman’s hardware store, with its familiar orange and white exterior, closed in Wellesley lower falls. We knew the Grossman’s sign was torn down in 2010, making way for what would become the existing Waterstone senior living facility, but couldn’t find the actual store closing date.

So we went to Ted Tye of National Development, the property management outfit that worked on the Waterstone project, for the info and he says Grossman’s closed in 1994.

wellesley grossmans sign

Babson starts family business center

Babson College has launched a new teaching and research hub called the Institute for Family Entrepreneurship, and named Lauri Union as its executive director. Union led the turnaround of a family manufacturing business while in her 20’s.

A pilot program at Babson this coming fall will support incoming and current students whose families run businesses.

babson family business wellesley — Institute of Family Entrepreneurship leader Lauri Union, Babson College President Kerry Healey, and Babson professor William Gartner at Babson Connect: Worldwide in Madrid

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Wellesley Police Log: Threat reads “you can let us go but we can let you go too,” Nintendo Switch left on train, embarrassing Bitcoin scam is back

April 18, 2018 by bbrown 1 Comment

Wellesley Police Log for the Week of 4/09/18-4/15/18

Incidents

On April 9, 2018 at 6:39 p.m. Officer Wall responded to the Pavao construction site on Worcester Street for a report of vandalism to a light tower. The light tower had been stored in the Calvin Street parking lot on April 9^th around midnight. Officer Amalfi had noticed the damage to the light while doing building security checks at approximately 2:17 a.m. There are no suspects at this time.

On April 12, 2018 at 2:15 p.m. Officer Joseph spoke with a male party at the police station about a missing package that was delivered on April 11, 2018. The reporting party stated the tracking information showed that it had been delivered at 2:25 p.m., but he had not received it. The package contained a vehicle replacement part valued at approximately $70. There are no suspects.

On April 13, 2018 at 9:30 a.m. Officer Dixon was advised by the records manager at the police department that a resident had provided her with a letter he had received in the mail which he thought was suspicious. After reviewing the contents of the letter Officer Dixon recognized it as a scam where the sender provides a vague threat regarding having potentially embarrassing or compromising information about the recipient of the letter that will be revealed to his family if he does not pay a fee in Bitcoin. The letter appears to be a hoax and Officer Dixon was unable to determine the origin of the letter. [Read more…]

What the MBTA’s doing to address Wellesley commuter rail accessibility shortcomings

April 18, 2018 by bbrown 2 Comments

The MBTA says it has been looking closely at the Wellesley commuter rail stations, and the train system as a whole, to address accessibility barriers and map out a vision for prioritizing what steps it needs to take.

The T warns on its web pages for the three Wellesley commuter rail stations — Wellesley Square, Wellesley Hills and Wellesley Farms — that “significant accessibility barriers exist.” As we discussed in our recent post on this topic (“What will it take for Wellesley commuter rail stations to become accessible?”), residents are looking to make their voices heard and the town says it will push to get changes made.

Wellesley.Sq.Commuter.Rail

One strong possibility for the Wellesley Square station at least is if a redevelopment of the Tailby and Railroad parking lots sandwiching the station really does take place, then accessibility accommodations would be a part of the deal. Investment by Natick in a conceptual design plan has put its downtown commuter rail station on a fast tracker for improvements by the MBTA.

Spokesman Joe Pesaturo says the MBTA’s Plan for Accessible Transit Infrastructure (PATI) is still in the early stages, but outlined the following efforts that could affect accessibility at Wellesley stations and beyond (Note: We bolded key items below):

Staff developed conceptual designs for bringing accessibility to each of our inaccessible Commuter Rail stations. To meet federal standards, the renovation at Wellesley Square Station would have to include two full-length 4-foot high platforms connected by a pedestrian walkway (via elevators and stairs).
The PATI external advisory committee has voiced support for prioritizing bus and subway improvements based on the fact that the subway and bus networks carry far more customers than commuter rail.
However, relative to other inaccessible Commuter Rail stations, Wellesley Square ranks in the top tier of stations that would benefit from access upgrades.
A funding request for a full design of an accessible Wellesley Square station was recently submitted for consideration in the MBTA’s 2019-2023 Capital Investment Plan (CIP). Projects are evaluated and scored based on a set of consistent project selection criteria, including impact on system preservation, cost effectiveness, social equity, economic impact, safety, mobility, environment and health effects, and policy support. The final project prioritization is underway, and the draft FY19-23 CIP will be made public later in the spring.
Staff is beginning to discuss if a mobile lift would serve as an appropriate interim measure to provide a degree of access at the station, but it’s important to note that the use of a mobile lift is not ideal (and feedback from a number of customers has not been favorable).

The MBTA did not share any specifics about the Hills and Farms stations.

Recalling Barbara Bush’s memorable Wellesley visit

April 17, 2018 by bbrown Leave a Comment

Former First Lady Barbara Bush, who died Tuesday at the age of 92, left her mark on Wellesley in 1990 when she was chosen as Wellesley College’s commencement speaker.

Her choice as the speaker sparked a student protest focused on Mrs. Bush not representing the sort of career woman that the protesters aspired to become. Wellesley grads also spoke out, such as in this Orlando Sentinel column (“Wellesley grad: Barbara Bush has no place at Commencement”)

In her speech, Mrs. Bush urged that diversity be embraced and that students think beyond themselves.

“At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend or a parent,” she said.

Mrs. Bush also shared her wish to see a new kind of U.S. president someday (“Somewhere out in this audience may even be someone who will one day follow in my footsteps, and preside over the White House as the President’s spouse. I wish him well!”). Video of speech is here.

Mrs. Bush was followed at the podium by Raisa Gorbachev, the late wife of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Their tag-team effort has been memorialized on the Wellesley College campus via this plaque seen on an out-of-the-way staircase.

gorbachev & bush at Wellesley College

One obstacle that marathoners running through Wellesley didn’t hit

April 17, 2018 by bbrown Leave a Comment

Fortunately for Boston Marathon runners heading through Wellesley the course didn’t veer onto Rte. 9 East heading towards the Rte. 95 ramps. Otherwise, they would have been swallowed up by this minefield of potholes.

A reader passed the photo along to us, and we’ve reached out to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to see if anything can be done about the tire-trashing stretch.

UPDATE: MassDOT got back to us on Tuesday and wrote the following:

“We got a complaint earlier today about potholes on Rte. 9 near the Sunlife Building. I reached out to the construction engineer who assures me he will have a crew patching the area in the work zone. As for the rest of Rte.9 the maintenance supervisor is working to get a truck full of hot mix tomorrow to run the rest of Rte. 9 in Wellesley.”

So, it looks like smoother driving is ahead. Now for those lane lines heading west on Rte. 9…

potholes on route 9 east — Rte. 9 east potholes (Peter Chapman)