THOUSANDS TO GET BROADBAND AS SOON AS NEXT YEAR
Consolidated Communications will provide access to high-speed internet for thousands of people in New Hampshire as soon as next year, the company said after the Executive Council approved giving it $40 million in federal funding.
The panel unanimously authorized using American Rescue Plan Act money for a three-year contract to make fiber-optic broadband available to nearly 25,000 homes in Cheshire, Hillsborough, Sullivan, Grafton, Merrimack, Coos and Carroll counties.
Consolidated has also pledged to add another 32,000 homes in the project area using its own money, but it didn’t have a county-by-county breakdown Thursday for these additional locations.
The company says it hopes to begin construction at the end of this year with the goal of completing as much of it as possible in 2024.
UNITED THERAPEUTICS TO BUILD NEW HANGAR AT CONCORD AIRPORT
United Therapeutics is seeking to build a hangar at Concord Municipal Airport for its corporate jet and other aircraft. The Maryland-based company is in the midst of renovating an 80,000-square-foot mill building on Commercial Street in Manchester for more than $26 million, the Union Leader reported.
The hangar would be built at 34 Regional Drive in Concord, about 20 miles away from the Millyard, and would include space for four or five aircraft.
United Therapeutics received a variance from the zoning board to build the 35,683-square-foot hangar at 58 feet — 3 feet above the allowed height. A public hearing is set to take place before the city council to lease the 2.88-acre parcel on March 13. The planning board will hear the plans on March 15.
The biotechnology company is renovating a 74,560-square-foot mill at 100 Commercial St. in Manchester. Part of the building has been used by the company’s Organ Manufacturing Group since 2017 in conjunction with the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute.
CALIFORNIA COMPANY ACQUIRES PORTSMOUTH SOLAR DEVELOPER
New Hampshire Solar Garden, a Portsmouth-based solar energy developer, has agreed to be acquired by Luminia, a California firm that develops and finances commercial and community solar projects, the companies announced Wednesday.
Luminia will acquire the assets, development resources and project pipeline of New Hampshire Solar Garden, including 15 megawatts of community solar that the companies jointly closed in 2022, the companies said in a press release.
Luminia will also get control and manage New Hampshire Solar Gardens’ community solar portfolio totaling over 218 megawatts.
New Hampshire Solar Gardens serves Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.
Company founder Andrew Kellar has joined Luminia as vice president of development. Kellar’s work in the industry also includes bringing 140 megawatts of solar development projects to Puerto Rico, the company said.
TD BANK REACHES $1.2 BILLION SETTLEMENT IN PONZI SCHEME LAWSUIT
TD Bank will pay $1.2 billion to settle a lawsuit alleging its involvement in an infamous $7 billion Ponzi scheme orchestrated by disgraced financier Allen Stanford more than a decade ago.
Stanford was sentenced to 110 years in prison in 2012 after being found guilty on 13 counts of fraud-related charges in Houston. Prosecutors charged that Stanford sold billions of dollars in fraudulent certificates of deposit administered by Stanford International Bank Ltd., an offshore bank in Antigua, ensnaring thousands of victims.
The lawsuit claimed TD Bank collected these deposits in U.S. and Canadian dollars and continuously ignored red flags about the Antigua-based bank over the years.
The settlement announcement came the same day the banks were scheduled for trial in Houston federal court, averting the trial. Additionally, HSBC will pay $40 million and Independent Bank, formerly Bank of Houston, will pay $100 million, the receivership’s counsel confirmed.
