Good morning,

If you’re the kind of person who likes to sneak in a little shopping during your workday, a new coworking space scheduled to open in Newton next week may be just right for you.

The Coworking House is opening at the Newton Nexus on Needham Street, home to TJ Maxx, Sierra Trading Post, Boston Ski & Tennis, Trader Joe's and – coming soon – J. Crew.

CoHo is the company's second location, following its flagship coworking space in Milford, N.H., according to owner Andrew Fournier.

Here’s a list of other coworking locations in our footprint.

The clock is ticking on a rent control deal

Time is running short for a possible compromise that would remove the nation's strictest rent control law from the November ballot; meanwhile, there's been no shortage of developments.

Over the weekend, Gov. Maura Healey said she’s hoping for a compromise. On Tuesday, NAIOP floated a new compromise with many good improvements. Yesterday, House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz said more of the real estate community needs to get on board first.

Our lawmakers are — not by statute but through practice — professional procrastinators.  They still have 12 days to get something to Healey by July 1, so really, what's the rush?

There's also the possibility the Supreme Judicial Court could still toss the question off the ballot entirely before then — which has to be motivation for the real estate community not to move too quickly.

Residents call on Wellesley to drop MassBay lawsuit 

You might not know it from all those Save MassBay Forest signs on lawns across town, but many Wellesley residents support the idea of allowing up to 180 homes on a college parking lot while simultaneously saving the forest.

This week, the advocacy group Building a Better Wellesley delivered a scorching rebuke to town leaders for their decision to sue the state over the plan, calling it "the wrong course of action for our housing future, our forests and our taxpayers."

Their letter challenges the town's claim that the state refused to negotiate, citing multiple instances where the Commonwealth did just that — and the Select Board didn't. The board held 14 executive sessions on potential litigation, but no negotiation meetings were ever reported to the public.

On May 11, the Select Board called a Special Town Meeting to get advice on whether to negotiate or sue. Wellesley's Advisory Committee unanimously voted against suing first. So did 63% of Town Meeting members.

The Select Board sued anyway less than one month later.

“We are confused as to why the Select Board would call together 240 elected Wellesley residents for 3½ hours of debate and then, without giving the Commonwealth time to respond, ignore that advice,” they wrote.

As for the plan itself, Building a Better Wellesley calls it a win on multiple fronts: roughly 40 acres of forest conserved, 180 units of housing that would add an estimated $1.5M annually to the tax base, fill seats in new schools, and give downsizing seniors a place to land, freeing up single-family homes for younger families. Thirty-six units would be permanently affordable.

The Town has appropriated $900,000 for legal fees to challenge the MassBay housing plan, on top of $500,000 that was previously approved. Officials acknowledge the final price tag may be higher.

Read the full letter and add your name to Building A Better Wellesley’s email list.

Weston Whopper has it their way

Before Wellesley officials spend all those taxpayer dollars to fight 180 units at MassBay, they might want to consider how that’s worked out for their next-door neighbors in Weston.

Yesterday, a Superior Court judge denied Weston's appeal to stop a proposed 180-unit apartment development at 518 South Ave., reports Steve Adams at Banker & Tradesman.

The ruling upholds the state Housing Appeals Committee's decision approving the 40B project, which Wayland-based Banner Construction and Houston-based Hanover Co. first proposed in 2019

That project is 180 homes, too. Forty-five would be affordable.

Local opponents quickly seized on the project's size, dubbing it the "Weston Whopper" (yes, in Weston, a four-story building qualifies as a whopper) with evil-eyes renderings on its lawn signs (so more clever than Wellesley’s hyperbolic signs). The town denied the permit in 2023. The developer appealed and won.

Seven years and hundreds of thousands of dollars later, Weston has little to show for it. They were even ordered to reimburse the developer nearly $13,000 in consultant fees.

Friday Thursday Grab Bag

• With summer upon us, thousands of youth jobs are about to be filled. Businesses are reminded of the state's child labor laws. Here's a Child Labor Laws Poster for your workplace. (RAM)
  
  
• Newton's Juneteenth celebration tomorrow (June 19) takes place at Newton North High School and the Hyde Community Center, with music, food, vendors and live entertainment.
  
  
• Brookline's Juneteenth Carnival celebrates the theme of "One Freedom, Many Flags" — with waterslides, bouncy houses, Caribbean music and food, noon-4 p.m. at Brookline High School.
  
  
• Sweet congratulations to Indulge!, the Newton Highlands shop that just celebrated 35 candy-coated years. (Fig City News)
  
  
• And Chef Douglass Williams' MIDA Newton is celebrating five years in Newtonville this month, which, in turn, helped transform the neighborhood. Check out this fun before-and-now video.
  
  
• BTW, long before MIDA, there was a Lebanese restaurant at that corner, best known for its belly dancing on weekends.
  
  
• Newton Asian Mart is now open. And it’s already becoming a Newton Center destination.
  
  
• Brookline health officials are moving forward with a proposed regulation to remove kratom from the shelves of convenience stores, smoke shops and other retailers. (Brookline.news)
  
  
• Needham officials plan to ask voters to approve a debt exclusion override this fall to fund construction of a new $325.4 million middle school.
  
  
• Wellesley's Maugus Cafe — formerly the Maugus Restaurant — has reopened under new owner Kostas Saranteas following a full renovation. The original spot was owned by the Papakonstantinou family for nearly 45 years. (Swellesley Report)
  
  
• The state has extended the public comment period on its plans to declare portions of the MassBay Community College property in Wellesley "surplus" until June 26. It's not too late to weigh in on the proposed housing development, plans to preserve 40 acres of woods and direct land sale proceeds to MassBay. 40OaklandSt.DCAMM@mass.gov
  
  
• Are you an artist who loves the Charles River as much as we do? Enter to have your work featured in an exhibit presented by the Wellesley Society of Artists and the Dedham Art Association.

SBA policy puts a crimp on small businesses and startups

Two Small Business Association policy changes are preventing lawful immigrants from participating in its lending programs, reports Sarah Betancourt at GBH News.

Last March, the SBA barred any small business owner who isn't a U.S. citizen, national, or green card holder from receiving financing. This spring, it expanded the ban to include green card holders in several programs.

Those restrictions are directly impacting entrepreneurs and small businesses by restricting their ability to expand and create jobs that have long been part of the Massachusetts economy.  

In the fiscal year ending June 2025, 237 SBA loans went to green card holders in Massachusetts, with nearly $100 million invested and approximately 1,100 jobs supported, per an analysis by Sen. Ed Markey's Small Business Committee.

The restrictions even blocked at least one owner from offering employees an ownership stake because one holds a visa, Betancourt notes.

This week, more than 60 state legislators wrote to SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler urging her to rescind the policy.

“By disallowing some of the most entrepreneurial members of our community from accessing the capital resources that may make the difference between success and closure, we are not only hurting families and communities but stunting the growth of our economy,” the legislators wrote.

We’re celebrating our expansion and you’re invited

Finally, it’s been a little less than three months since the Brookline Chamber transitioned into the Charles River Regional Chamber. Over that time, our team has been busy getting to know Brookline's business, nonprofit and civic leaders and learning what matters most to them.

Now it's time to bring our members from all five communities together to celebrate!

Please join us next Wednesday (June 24) from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on the rooftop terrace of the Hilton Garden for Brookline Night, a night of making new friends and renewing acquaintances.

We’ll have a short presentation starting shortly after 6 p.m. recognizing some special Brookline people, businesses and nonprofits.  But mostly this is a time for connections, conversations, food, drinks and a pretty nice view too.

Tickets are selling fast. I recommend you reserve yours this week before it sells out.

That’s what you need to know for today — Autistic Pride Day — unless you need to know why you should not flush ticks down the toilet. (Um, ouch)

Happy Father’s Day. See you next week.

Greg Reibman (he, him)

President & CEO

Charles River Regional Chamber

617.244.1688

Looking for an earlier edition? Archive here

Max Woolf contributed to today’s newsletter.