Hate Cape traffic? Join the (Bay) Club

Like the Cape but hate the bridge traffic?

Waltham builder/developer Paul Abelite has a solution.

He's building moderate-sized single-families priced in the mid-$500,000 to mid-$600,000 range on the grounds of the toney Bay Club at Mattapoisett, a 625-acre enclave in this quaint, unspoiled town on Buzzards Bay, with no need to cross the Sagamore or Bourne bridges. Houses at the Bay Club are normally custom built and larger — up to 8,000 square feet — with the club selling the lots for $250,000 and up.

Abelite and business partner Lisa Nickerson say their 36-home subdivision, called The Preserve, is bringing a price point to the gated golf club that will draw middle-class buyers — those looking for a vacation house or a full-time residence.

"We're offering a chance to get something above and beyond your typical sub­division house," said Abelite, president of Aerie Homes. "You can have the lifestyle of a golf community in an area also surrounded by a town forest and a nature reserve that's also just down the street from Buzzards Bay."

The Cape-style homes at The Preserve come in three different styles, from traditional to more loft-like, with cedar-shingle exteriors, outdoor patios and attached two-car garages. All homes are three-bedroom, ranging from 1,900 square feet to 2,550 square feet, with master suites on the first or second floors. Owners can customize their homes with a wide variety of wood flooring, cabinets and granite counters. Upgrades include everything from a custom sunroom to a golf cart bay attached to the garage.

We took a look at the completed "Hawthorn" model unit, a three-bedroom, 21⁄2-bathroom house with 2,550 square feet offered at $650,000. It features an open living/dining/kitchen area with wide-plank oak floors and a gas fireplace, and a granite counter, dark-stained oak cabinet and stainless-steel kitchen. The first floor has a carpeted master bedroom suite with a ceramic-tiled bathroom. The second floor has a vaulted ceiling family room and two additional guest bedrooms and tiled bathroom. There's a full basement and attached two-car garage.

"We're building more modest-sized homes that buyers are looking for, but using high-quality materials and craftsmanship," said Nickerson, a partner in the project who also owns a Waltham-based public relations firm that is handling the sales and marketing. "Owners are free to join the club or not."

Homeowners can join the Bay Club as social members for $10,000, which provides access to tennis courts, a junior Olympic pool, fitness and racquetball facilities, club restaurant and cultural activities. A golf membership for the 18-hole parkland-style course designed by Brad Faxon costs $30,000.

"This club was designed from the ground up to appeal not just to golfers, but to those who want family and cultural activities," said Bay Club general manager Craig Fleming, citing a recent cooking demonstration by a Boston chef and a lecture by a Harvard professor.

Dave Andrews, director of sales and membership development at Bay Club, said 80 percent of the club's 54 custom-built homes are primary residences, with a number of residents commuting to work as far away as downtown Boston.

"We think The Preserve houses are high quality and a great buy, considering the amenities we offer." Andrews said. "And you're surrounded by green space, which takes up 90 percent of the club site."

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GM recalling Camaros for ignition switch problem

DETROIT — Ignition switches once again are causing problems for General Motors.

This time the company is recalling nearly 512,000 Chevrolet Camaro muscle cars from the 2010 to 2014 model years because a driver's knee can bump the key and knock the switch out of the "run" position, causing an engine stall.

That disables the power steering and brakes and could cause drivers to lose control.

GM said Friday that it knows of three crashes and four minor injuries from the problem. A spokesman said the air bags did not go off in the crashes, but GM hasn't determined if the non-deployment was caused by the switches.

GM said the Camaro switches met its specifications — unlike those at the center of a recall of 2.6 million small cars. That problem has caused more than 50 crashes and at least 13 deaths.

Company spokesman Alan Adler said the problem occurs rarely and affects mainly drivers who are tall and sit close to the steering column so their knees can come in contact with the key.

The Camaro switches are completely different from those in the small cars with ignition switch problems. The Camaro switches, he said, were designed by a different person, and meet GM standards for the amount of force needed to turn the cars on and off.

Currently the Camaro key is integrated like a switchblade into the Fob, which contains the buttons that let people electronically lock doors and open the trunk. GM will replace the switchblade key with a standard one, and a separate Fob attached by a ring so it will dangle from the key. Adler said with the change, if the driver's knee hits the Fob, it doesn't come in contact with the key.

"You can hit the key Fob all day long and it's not going to have any impact on the ignition," he said.

The problem was discovered during internal testing of ignition switches after the company recalled the switches in small cars such as the Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Ion earlier this year, GM said. Adler said the Camaro ignition problem was the only one found in testing of all GM models.

GM knew for more than a decade that the small-car switches were faulty, yet didn't recall them until early this year. The problem has brought federal investigations, lawsuits and a $35 million fine from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

GM also announced three other recalls on Friday, bringing the total number of vehicles recalled by the company to about 14.4 million in the U.S. and 16.5 million in North America. Earlier this year GM passed its old U.S. full-year recall record of 10.75 million vehicles set in 2004.

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The Ticker

House approves state sales tax holiday

The Massachusetts House voted 132-13 late Wednesday in favor of holding a state sales tax holiday on Aug. 16-17 — a week earlier than tradition — as part of an economic development package.

The proposal must be reconciled with the state Senate, which is working on its own economic development bill and is expected to take up the issue before the end of the session.

The House rejected a move to make the sales tax holiday an automatic annual event.

Massachusetts has held a sales tax holiday every year since 2004, except for 2009.

Southeastern casino license delayed

State gambling officials are concerned Massachusetts won't see any viable casino proposals emerge in the Fall River/New Bedford area and are considering delaying the licensing process another six months.

The members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, at a meeting at the Hynes Convention Center yesterday, voiced support for pushing back the next deadline for the southeastern region casino license from Sept. 23 to March.

Moderna doubles space in Cambridge

Less than three years after its launch, Moderna Therapeutics has expanded to 320 Bent St. in Kendall Square, effectively doubling the size of its footprint in Cambridge to accommodate a nearly nine-fold increase in its staff.

Since 2011, when it started with 20 employees, Moderna has received more than $1.4 million in tax incentives from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, based on commitments to create more than 70 new jobs. It now has about 170 employees and 100,000 square feet of space.

Uniqlo opening in Faneuil Hall this month

Casual clothing chain Uniqlo — often referred to as the Gap of Japan — will open its first Massachusetts store at Faneuil Hall Marketplace later this month.

The 3,155-square-foot, pop-up store will open June 27, the company said.

Uniqlo is known for its inexpensive clothing in vast color lines.

The closing date for the temporary store hasn't been determined, according to a spokeswoman for Uniqlo, which plans to eventually move into a larger, permanent space in Faneuil Hall Marketplace.

Other Uniqlo stores will open Aug. 29 at the Natick Mall and Mall at Chestnut Hill in Newton, Sept. 19 at the Northshore Mall in Peabody and Oct. 24 at Legacy Place in Dedham.

• Cartera Commerce has named Erin Warren, left, as its senior vice president of marketing. In this new role, Warren will leverage her previous direct-to-consumer digital marketing experiences in the financial, technology and consumer goods industries. Prior to joining Cartera, Warren served as the chief marketing officer of CollegeWeekLive and led teams at both Sallie Mae and UPromise.

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State senate OKs $11 minimum wage

Business groups fear it will be harder to make it in Massachusetts if a compromise bill passed by the Senate that would hike the state's minimum wage to the highest in the country is signed into law.

Top House and Senate negotiators struck a deal Wednesday to raise the current $8 per hour minimum wage to $11 per hour by 2017, and the Senate quickly passed it yesterday on a 35-4 vote. The bill does not include a Senate proposal that would have tied the hike to inflation. And it goes beyond a House proposal for a $10.50 per hour wage, without automatic increases for inflation. The House is expected to vote on the compromise bill next week.

"Too many people are trying to live and raise a family in Massachusetts on the current minimum wage and failing," Senate President Therese Murray said. "These changes will make a real difference in the lives of our residents and I am proud of the Legislature for this great accomplishment. But, we can't stop here."

But Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, warned the minimum wage hike could drive many stores out of business.

"I am really concerned about the future and viability of thousands of small businesses," Hurst said. "It's a 38 percent increase in the minimum wage, far above any other state."

While Associated Industries of Massachusetts viewed the lack of indexing to inflation as a small victory, a spokesman said the higher wage will hurt businesses.

"There's plenty of economic reasons not to raise the wage," AIM spokesman Chris Geehern said.

But Jim Klocke, executive vice-president of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, said the deal is fair because it balances the higher wage with unemployment insurance reform for business owners.

Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a Boston-based network of business owners and executives, applauded the compromise bill.

"A higher minimum wage will boost sales, keep more dollars circulating in our local economy, and reduce the strain on our social safety net caused by poverty wages," said Holly Sklar, the group's director.

Deb Fastino, co-chairman of Raise Up Massachusetts, called the bill a "positive step," but said the group for now would keep collecting signatures for a November ballot question to increase the minimum wage to $10.50.

"It has to pass ... through the House and get to the governor, and if all of this happens before the deadline, then we will make our decision," she said.

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Let’s Face it, selling your data beats fee

A big fat cry-me-a-river to all the outrage over Facebook's announcement that it will sell your web-browsing data to advertisers. Did people think Facebook was collecting data about your every move on the Web just to keep itself warm at night?

Either way, here are five reasons that privacy advocates need to calm down over Facebook and start worrying about more serious threats to personal liberty:

5) You have more control than you think. Facebook is also allowing users to see why they are being shown certain ads. You can click through your full marketing dossier — your likes, web browsing history and interests — and add or change the information Facebook uses for advertisement targeting.

4) You're going to see ads anyway, so why not keep them relevant? If you long for an ad-free world, then the World Wide Web just isn't for you.

3) You can opt out of online ads at the Digital Advertising Alliance (aboutads.info/choices) or sign up for services like Ghostery that keep your browsing private. It's really not that hard.

2) There are bigger fish to fry. Please direct all this privacy outrage toward a preemptive strike on the next frontier of invasion: wearables and implantables. That's where the real threats to liberty and security lie. Facebook ads are a lost cause, but how about pharmaceutical ads that target whatever ailment is registering on those fitness wristbands of the future? Not only is that invasive, it's actually a hazard to your health.

But there's still time to act. So let's talk about that instead.

1) It's either you or the ads. Because Facebook is a public company, it has to make more and more revenue each quarter (as Wall Street demands). It can either do that by stepping up its ad game or by instituting a steadily increasing membership fee.

If Facebook wanted to keep to its current schedule of revenue, it would have to charge $4.10 per user per quarter right now. And that's assuming it doesn't lose any of its 609 million active daily users by instituting a fee.

So unless you want to pay $12 this year, and more next year and the year after that, thank Facebook for finding a way to make money that doesn't take dollars from your pocket.

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Firm fixing Health Connector site says it’s on target

The head of the company brought on to fix the Bay State's failed Obamacare website told the Herald he's sure his company can get the Health Connector portal ready for a crucial fall relaunch — but stopped short of a guarantee.

"Our confidence level couldn't be higher," said Sanjay Singh, CEO of hCentive, which developed the software the state hopes to use. "I've never seen so much progress in four weeks in any other state we have worked in."

Health Connector officials demonstrated parts of the software at a board meeting yesterday. They are scrambling to meet a June 30 deadline to finish the website's foundation.

"We are very, very, very, very high probability that we will hit that," Singh told the Herald.

State officials also yesterday allowed the 227,374 Bay Staters who were moved to temporary Medicaid coverage — they pay no premiums — to stay on through the end of the year. It has cost $90.5 million to keep people on the temporary insurance, as of June 5, according to Secretary of Administration & Finance Glen Shor.

Critics have pointed out that just about anyone could sign up for the temporary coverage. New state Obamacare czar Maydad Cohen, however, insisted few actually did so.

"Right now, our initial estimate is under 1 percent would be potentially ineligible for that," said Cohen.

The health insurance plans are concerned about how long the temporary coverage may stretch.

"They're not in the right coverage," said Lora Pellegrini of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans. "It could have the impact of folks who haven't paid a premium of 'Why am I suddenly paying a bill?' That's going to be the challenge, and something we all need to work on."

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Elizabeth Arden's Maine estate on the market

ROME, Maine — The former summer home in Maine of beauty magnate Elizabeth Arden is on the market for $765,000.

Arden built the main house in the town of Rome as her summer estate in the 1920s then later established the Maine Chance Spa at the site. Mamie Eisenhower, Edna Ferber, Judy Garland, Lillian Gish and Ava Gardner were among the guests.

Stefan Tufano tells the Kennebec Journal his parents bought the property 41 years ago, a few years after the spa closed in 1970. Tufano moved in to care for them when they were elderly, and now he's ready to sell.

He says the 17-acre property, part of which is in Mount Vernon, is beautiful but hard to maintain.

The property once covered 1,200 acres but was subdivided after Arden's 1966 death.

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Senate approves $1B convention center expansion

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Senate has approved a bill that would allow for a $1 billion expansion of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

Supporters of the bill that passed 31-6 on Thursday say it is necessary to keep the facility competitive with similar convention centers in other cities, and the expansion will create jobs, provide additional tax dollars and boost tourism. The bill authorizes a 1.3 million square foot expansion.

Supporters said the convention center in South Boston, which opened in 1997, isn't large enough and doesn't have enough adjoining hotel rooms to attract many large-scale national and international meetings, which are now going to other cities.

The House passed a convention center expansion bill last month that promised no new taxes.

The House and Senate will work on a compromise.

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Stocks open higher after string of down days

The stock market is inching higher in early trading following three days of declines.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up three points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,933 shortly after the U.S. market opened Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average is higher by 17 points, or 0.1 percent, to 16,752. The Nasdaq is rising 14 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,312.

Intel jumped 7 percent after the world's largest chipmaker said sales of computers for business have been stronger than expected, and raised its revenue forecast.

Stocks have retreated in recent days after reaching all-time highs to start the week. The market is under pressure from lackluster economic reports and higher oil prices on the back of escalating violence in Iraq that threatens to disrupt crude supplies.

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In transformation, One Fund to make last pay-outs to individual victims

The One Fund will make its final disbursement to victims this summer, awarding millions more to survivors of the Boston Marathon bombings and relatives of those killed, before transitioning to a fund supporting programs rather than individuals, a spokeswoman said today.

Currently at $19 million, the One Fund will continue to disburse that money — and any donations made in the next six weeks — to victims until July 30, One Fund spokeswoman Dot Joyce said.

After that, the One Fund "will no longer be a fund for distributing money" to individuals, Joyce said. Instead, the fund will go toward "support services," including programs for those affected by the bombings.
DEVELOPING...

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