BUSINESS BRIEFS: Unemployment, Cyber Role for Mass Bay, Top RE Transactions

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Unemployment Sees Slight July Increase

The state’s July total unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, a 0.3 percentage point increase from the revised June estimate of 3.2 percent, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development announced Friday. The Massachusetts unemployment rate was 0.8 percentage points lower than the national rate of 4.3 percent reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Over-the-year, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was up by 0.3 percentage points. The labor force increased by an estimated 22,000 from the revised estimate of 3,806,600 in June, with 12,100 residents more employed and 9,900 more residents unemployed over-the-month. The state’s labor force participation rate – the total number of residents 16 or older who worked or were unemployed and actively sought work in the last four weeks – increased 0.3 percentage points over-the-month, to 66.0 percent, the highest it has been since September 2020. Compared to July 2023, the labor force participation rate also increased 1.0 percentage points over-the-year. The BLS preliminary job estimates for Massachusetts decreased by 2,300 jobs in July. This follows June’s revised gain of 16,400 jobs. The largest over-the-month private sector job gains were in Leisure and Hospitality, Financial Activities, and Transportation and Warehousing. Employment now stands at 3,750,200. Massachusetts gained 686,700 jobs since the employment low in April 2020.

Community College Boosts Cyber Role

MassBay Community College is now only the third community college in New England, and the first in Massachusetts, to earn the designation of a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) by the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity (NCAE-C). Only 20 institutions of higher education in all of New England have earned the CAE-CD designation. The CAE-CD is bestowed on institutions that are deemed as instrumental in helping to reduce threats to the national infrastructure by promoting higher education and research in cyber defense, as well as providing the nation with a pipeline of qualified cybersecurity professionals. The prestigious CAE-CD designation is awarded to regionally accredited academic institutions offering cybersecurity degrees and/or certificates at the associate, bachelor, and graduate levels. “We are extremely proud, but not surprised, that our cybersecurity programs have been acknowledged with this prestigious designation,” said MassBay President David Podell. “Our cybersecurity programs are cutting-edge, and we have been educating the country’s future workforce to protect our privacy and the national cyber infrastructure for many years now. This designation is another confirmation that our cybersecurity programs stand among the highest quality anywhere.”

Register of Deeds Lists Biggest Sales

Norfolk County Register of Deeds William P. O’Donnell reported that during the second quarter of 2024, ten properties, a mix of commercial and residential, sold for more than $16,000,000, with an average price of $31,044,300. This time, none were in Franklin. The prices on the properties to follow concern real estate sales from April 1, 2024, through June 30, 2024. The ten properties were:

1. 34-50 Central Street, Wellesley, a collection of three boutique mixed-use retail units with a total area of 40,860 square feet, was sold in May for $16,000,000;

1. Braintree Manor, a 177-bed senior living facility located at 1102 & 1106 Washington Street, sold for $22,000,000 in April;

1. 715-795 Bridge Street, Weymouth, known as Riverway Plaza, a 250,000-square-foot retail center, sold in June for $23,000,000;

1. 65 Walnut Street, Wellesley, a five-floor, 67,500-square-foot, multi-clinic medical outpatient building sold in June for $24,300,000;

1. 1400 Providence Highway, Norwood, the three-building, 155,912-square-foot mixed-use office space, and research and development facility known as the Norwood Business Center, sold in June for $24,500,000;

1. The Southfield Redevelopment Authority purchased property on Memorial Grove Avenue, Weymouth, 368,270 square feet of land on the site of the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station in June for $25,000,000;

1. 1 Richard A Stratton Way, Quincy, the five-floor, 89,507-square-foot Holiday Inn hotel, sold in May for $30,498,000;

1. 1280-1300 & 1330 Boylston Street, Brookline, a 5.34-acre office park comprised of four commercial buildings totaling nearly 120,000 square feet, sold in May for $41,000,000;

1. 122 & 130-132 Granite Street, Quincy, the 100,000-square-foot retail shopping plaza known as Granite Place, sold in May for $41,500,000;

1. 655 Washington Street, Weymouth, the 4-story, 160-unit luxury apartment complex known as Helix Apartments, sold in May for $62,645,000.