Hot Property: Ride Currents to Waltham complex

Developer Hines Interests, best known for its large, big-city projects around the world, has just opened a stylish apartment complex on a former parking lot along the Charles River in Waltham.

The 200-unit Currents on the Charles takes advantage of views of a new park that stretches down to the river, connecting with a Charles River Reservation bike path that's a mile from Waltham center.

"Reduced construction and land costs out here makes it possible to create urban quality with a significant discount to downtown rents," said David Perry, senior managing director of Hines' Boston office.

The first 66-unit phase in the new complex is ready and has studios starting at $1,995, one-bedroom units at $2,055 and two-bedroom, two-baths at $2,575. There are seven studios, 102 one-bedrooms, 87 two-bedrooms and four three-bedroom corner units starting at $3,480. The apartments, which all have in-unit washers and dryers and loft-style windows, range from 609 square feet to 1,420 square feet.

"The amenities are superior to most new complexes in the suburbs and compete with those in the city," said Amy Medugno, regional portfolio manager of Bozzuto Management Co., which is managing the property.

Common spaces include the 10,000-square-foot River­ Club that combines a living­ room, WiFi/computer lounge, a catering kitchen with free Starbucks coffee, a dining room and a library. A double-sided gas fireplace fronts onto a large outdoor deck with views over the new park and the Charles.

There's a gym with a Fitness on Demand setup and yoga studio, a game room with an 80-inch TV, gaming consoles and shuffleboard, and even a dog-washing station.

Apartments wrap around two rear courtyards, one with an in-ground swimming pool and full outdoor kitchen with gas grills, the other with outdoor seating and a fire pit.

A parking space in a 400-car garage on the first two levels of the building costs $35 a month. Pets cost an extra $35 to $65 a month.

We took a look at two model units. Unit 105, a 774-square-foot one-­bedroom for $2,195 a month, and Unit 108, an 1,108-square-foot two-­bedroom for $2,860.

Both have kitchens with islands along with white quartz countertops, tile back­splashes, dark-stained cabinets and Whirlpool stainless-steel appliances. Carpeted bedrooms have walk-in closets and bathrooms with ceramic tile walls for walk-in showers or deep soaking tubs.

The two-bedroom unit's open living/dining space has a glass door out to the central courtyard with the swimming pool.

Hines has two other local apartment projects in development — 244 units at The Fuse, under construction in Cambridge's Alewife area, and 352 units in two buildings planned for Marina Bay in Quincy.

Currents on the Charles has leased 11 percent of its units, and is offering one month's free rent.

"I wish there was a little less competition, but as long as jobs are being created, we should be able to lease out all the apartment complexes coming on," said Perry. "But the leverage has swung toward the tenant."

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Garden complex signs up a star

Star Market is coming to North Station. The West Bridgewater chain signed a long-term lease for a 63,000-square-foot grocery store in Boston Properties and Delaware North's 
$950 million, mixed-use TD Garden project.

The supermarket will be downtown Boston's largest, and will potentially cap a 16-year push by the North End/West End/Beacon Hill Supermarket Committee to bring an affordable grocery to their neighborhoods.

"My committee is very pleased that it includes the supermarket," committee chairwoman Lia Tota said. "We just hope — and this remains to be seen — that Star Market is willing to keep the prices as low as possible, because the idea of fighting for this was not just having a supermarket."

The committee plans to work with Star Market through the design phase.

"It's a great story of community activism and commitment," said Bryan Koop, senior vice president and regional manager of Boston Properties' Hub office. "There is a population of 75,000 people in these…neighborhoods who do not have a grocery store."

The committee formed after learning that the former Stop & Shop on Cambridge Street would be replaced by a more expensive Bread & Circus, prompting concerns about affordability.

When Stop & Shop finally closed in 2003 — it's now a Whole Foods — a free shuttle bus started transporting residents of the three neighborhoods to a Shaw's in Somerville and Stop & Shop in Medford several times per week. The grocery chains continue to fund the service.

An escalator will take shoppers to the new lower-level Star Market, which will emphasize hot prepared foods, alcohol, cut produce and organics, and include a cheese shop, pizza and salad bars, sushi, a seating area, pharmacy and Starbucks.

Shaw's was attracted to the location because of the tremendous amount of building in the area and access to North Station, a spokesman said. The city in 2013 also approved $7.8 million in tax breaks to help lure the company.

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Charlie Baker official says Connector to be more transparent

The Massachusetts Health Connector will enter its busiest period of Obamacare enrollment next week as the Baker administration — vowing a new level of transparency — prepares to reveal just how much the agency's "wildcard" costs will add to a budget deficit expected to top $500 million.

"My staff has been working around the clock the past seven days to try to finalize the number," said Administration and Finance Secretary Kristen Lepore. "We're really close, and we should be announcing that very soon."

Baker has said he expects the state budget gap to be more than $500 million. Still unknown is the total cost of temporary health insurance that Bay Staters were transferred onto last year under the Patrick administration when the state's costly Obamacare website failed.

Lepore, in her first Health Connector board meeting as chairwoman after being sworn in last week, pledged at least one major change to the agency.

"Transparency is No. 1," Lepore said.

Meanwhile, Health Connector officials are racing to get the word out to Bay Staters in those temporary plans to sign up for insurance by Jan. 23 or risk losing coverage altogether.

"Our key continues to be this large group that has coverage that ends," said state Obamacare czar Maydad Cohen. "The critical thing we've really been pushing hard in our outreach and communication is the temporary Medicaid program, the Commonwealth Care program, those are ending for these people Jan. 31. There is no extension. They will have no coverage if they take no action."

Cohen said the Connector is expecting its busiest open enrollment period next week and will have more than 300 call center operators to process applications and answer questions.

The Connector's eleventh-hour outreach blitz also includes a radio ad Sunday during the New England Patriots AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts in which the Connector is sponsoring the "Connection of the Game," highlighting the best pass.

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Heslam: New Boston.com editor needs cred

Boston Globe's beleaguered online sister site, Boston.com, is reeling from its latest viral blunder, and it's high time the rudderless ship finds an experienced captain.

Boston.com yesterday fired Victor Paul Alvarez, an associate editor who posted a story making fun of death threats against House Speaker John Boehner and accusing the Ohio Republican of being a heavy drinker with a "pickled liver" who could survive being poisoned.

Globe CEO Mike Sheehan wouldn't comment on Alvarez's ouster but said no other Boston.com staffers were disciplined over the site's latest mishap.

"It's onward and upward," Sheehan said.

Sheehan, who sent an apology letter to Boehner, said they are in the "final stages" of interviewing candidates to fill the Boston.com editor job, which has been vacant since the end of November.

Boston University School of Communications Dean Tom Fiedler said it's "prudent" that the next Boston.com editor have a strong journalistic background to "avoid the kinds of embarrassments" and "controversy that has come up in recent weeks."

It's also important, Fiedler added, that the next editor run Boston.com "in alignment with the journalistic values of the company in general."

Alvarez confirmed his ouster yesterday but said he was surprised by the firing. He declined to elaborate. As for Boehner, Alvarez said, "I'd like to apologize to the man in a way that is sincere, and I don't think a tweet would do it. He deserves more than that."

In an emailed statement, Boston.com's GM Corey Gottlieb said, "We do not comment on individual personnel matters. Any decisions made are far less about one employee than they are about the collective Boston.com team and maintaining and strengthening the standards and values they share."

Sheehan said he has "100 percent confidence" in Gottlieb leading the site.

Last month, then-deputy editor of Boston.com Hilary Sargent was suspended after hawking T-shirts that mocked a Harvard professor embroiled in a $4 flap with a Chinese restaurant owner — a story she doggedly covered. Sargent, now a senior columnist, also posted a piece that was quickly taken down that accused the professor of sending a racist email.

A contrite Alvarez took to Twitter to address his firing — and critics.

"The story I wrote was awful. Tasteless. Mean. Bosses felt it was inexcusable. They fired me," Alvarez wrote in a tweet. "I did not pine for murder. I made a tasteless joke that I clearly regret. Before I was fired and now."

Alvarez tweeted: "Also, in case it wasn't abundantly clear, I'm looking for a job. I doubt there will be any offers. But I am available."

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Google discontinuing first Google Glass wearables

Google is shutting down its Glass Explorer program and ceasing consumer sales of the $1,500 initial wearable devices on Jan. 19, as the Internet giant revamps its approach to the market.

The company announced the move in a post on Google+. The wearables project is exiting the Google X R&D group and will become a standalone unit under Nest Labs, the smart-home device company Google acquired for $3.2 billion in February 2014. Google Glass will continue to be headed by Ivy Ross, a former retailing exec and jewelry designer.

The Google Glass devices have a small screen embedded in the right lens to let users search the web, pull up maps, read text messages, snap photos and record video. That last feature concerned the movie industry: Last fall, the MPAA and the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) updates anti-piracy joint policy to prohibit recording by users equipped with Google Glass or other wearables in theaters.

Google, in its note to Google Glass beta users about the end of the Explorer program, said "we're continuing to build for the future, and you'll start to see future versions of Glass when they're ready."

The overall wearable-computing device market -- including glasses, smartwatches and fitness bands -- is expected to grow dramatically in the next few years. Retail sales of smart wearable devices are projected grow from $4.5 billion in 2014 to $53.2 billion by 2019, according to British research firm Juniper Research.

© 2015 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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The Ticker

Amazon Prime to show WGBH-made kids pilot

The latest animated children's show from the WGBH producer behind "Curious George" and "Arthur" will be hitting the screen today, but not the airwaves.

The GBH-produced show "Sara Solves It" is among the latest batch of pilot episodes released on Amazon Prime for viewers to give feedback on. The best-received pilots will be turned into full series.

"We want to be where kids are, and if Amazon is a place where kids are consuming media, that's where we should be," said Carol Greenwald, executive producer of the show. "Everybody who is making content for kids realizes that we have to start thinking about other platforms."

"Sara Solves It" is a musical mystery show that follows Sara and her brother as they solve mysteries using math and logic. In the first episode, Sara is hot on the trail of a mysterious, pizza thief.

Greenwald executive produced the show along with Out of the Blue Enterprises, the production company led by the creator of "Blue's Clues." She said the show was originally developed for PBS, but the pilot was not picked up.

U.S. retail sales slump in December

U.S. retail sales recorded their largest decline in 11 months in December as demand fell almost across the board, tempering expectations for a sharp acceleration in consumer spending in the fourth quarter.

Economists, however, cautioned against reading too much into the surprise weakness, noting that holiday spending made it difficult to smooth December data for seasonal fluctuations.

Developer plans Brighton apartments

Boston developer and restaurateur Jon Cronin has filed notice with the city to build a 23-unit apartment building at 386-388 Market St. in Brighton. The $6.2 million project, which would include ground-floor commercial space, would be on the site of the Brighton Beer Garden.

Today

 Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims.

 Labor Department releases the Producer Price Index for December.

 Freddie Mac releases weekly mortgage rates.

TOMORROW

 Labor Department releases Consumer Price Index for December.

 Federal Reserve releases industrial production for December.

THE SHUFFLE

Burlington-based data recovery company Unitrends announced Kevin Weiss as the company's new president and chief executive officer. Weiss previously held leadership positions with Bertram Capital, McAfee, Ariba, BindView, BMC Software and IBM.

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Quincy hospital ER will remain open

The emergency room at the Quincy Medical Center will stay open for up to two years under a deal between Steward Heath Care and the Attorney General's Office.

"Maintaining emergency room care services and access to high-quality health care in Quincy is a priority for my office," Attorney General Martha Coakley said.

The 124-year-old hospital closed last month after Steward Health Care said it was losing $20 million a year. Under the settlement announced yesterday, Steward can close the emergency room after a year if it can show state health officials the services are not being used sufficiently by the public.

Steward can be fined $30,000 a month, up to $360,000, if it fails to provide emergency services.

"We believe that the conditions of the agreement are fair and consistent with the goals of maintaining access to high-quality health care services in the city of Quincy," said Steward spokeswoman Brooke Thurston in a statement. "We are committed to providing a convenient network of health care options to patients in Quincy."

The abrupt closure of the hospital appeared to violate Steward's 2011 agreement with Coakley to maintain services there for 10 years after it bought Quincy Medical in a bankruptcy auction. Quincy officials and residents have criticized the shuttering of the hospital and Chris Walker, a spokesman for Mayor Thomas Koch, yesterday said the city is still exploring its legal options.

The new settlement also requires Steward to relocate a Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic that had operated at the hospital and to provide primary care and specialty physician services in Quincy through Oct. 1, 2018.

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Globe CEO apologizes for Boston.com story mocking Boehner death threat

The Boston Globe's CEO apologized to U.S. House Speaker John Boehner yesterday for a "tasteless" Boston.com story that mocked death threats aimed at the Ohio Republican and sparked outrage on social media over its insensitivity.

The apology came after the article was revised numerous times and editor's notes were added — including one stating Boston.com was "sorry" for the entire ordeal.

"I thought it was tasteless, insensitive, unnecessary and regrettable," Mike Sheehan, chief executive officer of Boston Globe Media Partners, said of the story.

Sheehan told the Herald he sent an apology to the speaker. That letter came after Boehner's office called to complain about the article yesterday morning while it was still posted online.

"It should be obvious to any sentient human being that an item mocking threats against the Speaker and his family is completely insensitive and inappropriate," Boehner's press secretary, Michael Steel, wrote in an email to the Herald.

The article, which was first posted prominently on the Boston.com's home-page "Top News" section Tuesday evening and remained there for about 12 hours, was headlined: "Would Anyone Have Noticed if Bartender Succeeded in Poisoning John Boehner?"

The article, written by Boston.com associate editor Victor Paul Alvarez, insulted the speaker and said if he had been poisoned, his "pickled liver could have filtered out the toxins."

The episode also sparked sharp comments from U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, who said the article "crossed the line."

"It's disgraceful, and I'm disappointed but I'm not surprised," the South Boston congressman told the Herald. "That type of — I don't know what you would call it — that type of story has absolutely no place in our discourse."

Although Boston.com was silent for hours amid a furor of criticism over the article, Corey Gottlieb, Boston.com's general manager, issued an apologetic statement yesterday afternoon.

"Last night, an opinion piece was published on Boston.com that has since been adjusted to what is currently on the site," Gottlieb wrote. "The original column made references to Speaker Boehner that were off-color and completely inappropriate. It reflected the opinions of one of our writers; what it did not reflect, by any standards, were the site's collective values.

"Rather than remove any reference to it or pretend it didn't happen," he added, "we are handling with transparency and self-awareness. We are sorry, and we will do better."

Michael R. Hoyt, 44, of Deer Park, Ohio, was indicted in federal court last week on charges he threatened to kill the speaker by shooting him and poisoning his wine. He had tended bar at the Wetherington Country Club in Ohio, where Boehner is a member.

As the Herald reported yesterday, Hoyt — who told police the devil was talking to him through his car radio — is now under observation at the Bay State's Devens Federal Medical Center.

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Salvatore LaMattina: Stop Wynn permits

City Councilor Salvatore LaMattina is calling on Mayor Martin J. Walsh to hold off issuing roadwork permits vital to the Wynn Resorts casino in Everett until the Hub's lawsuit against the Gaming Commission is resolved, even if it means costly delays to the $1.6 billion project.

"If I was the mayor, I would not allow my Public Improvements Commission to review or approve plans that Wynn is submitting until the courts have made a decision on the City of Boston lawsuit," said LaMattina, who represents Charlestown and East Boston. "Charlestown is going to be the most impacted neighborhood, and they never had a seat at the table."

Walsh sued the commission earlier this month, alleging it used a deeply flawed licensing process that disenfranchised Boston and illegally benefited landowners who are under indictment.

Wynn has to make improvements to roads in and around Charlestown's Sullivan Square to handle traffic its project will bring. The company says it needs a single permit for the work.

"We plan to submit our application to the Public Improvements Commission for Sullivan Square roadway improvements in February, as scheduled," Wynn spokesman Michael Weaver said. "The city's lawsuit does not change our project's plans or timeline."

In a submission to the commission during the licensing process, Wynn noted it would "vigorously pursue all mitigation, including initiating legal proceedings, if necessary, to obtain necessary permits."

Asked about LaMattina's request, Walsh spokeswoman Bonnie McGilpin said the city "reviews all permitting requests that are submitted and decisions are made on a case-by-case basis."

"Every remedy was exhausted to date and now this matter is in the hands of the litigators seeking to present this case in court on behalf of the city," McGilpin said.

Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria issued a stern rebuke to LaMattina.

"If the councilor wants to blindly obstruct a project that could bring millions of dollars in benefits to his constituents in Charlestown, that's his choice," DeMaria said. "Wynn Everett will open responsibly, on time and with the support of the city of Everett."

Gaming commission spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said the panel "will continue to encourage all parties to move forward with the implementation of the casino license and to resolve implementation challenges as quickly as possible."

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Massachusetts labor groups plan to outline priorities

BOSTON — Labor groups are planning to converge on Beacon Hill to outline their goals for the new two-year legislative session.

Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health, said those priorities include better protections for vulnerable employees like temporary workers and day laborers.

She said labor groups, including the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, want to make 2015 a banner year for halting workplace deaths and injuries.

Also Wednesday, supporters of a $15 minimum wage in Massachusetts are planning to launch the first of what they say will be a series of protests on the 15th of every month to press for what they call a living wage.

The first protest is planned for Logan Airport.

The state's minimum wage just jumped from $8 to $9 per hour, the first increase since 2008.

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