CONCORD: After 95 years in Concord, Concord Group Insurance has moved its headquarters from North State Street in the Capital City to Bedford, seeking more access to workers and a more modern building. It is expanding its presence in Massachusetts, the company said, and moving the headquarters to Bedford is designed to get closer to that area and draw more employees. The Concord Monitor reported that the company will maintain several offices in and around Concord.
PORTSMOUTH: An advanced manufacturing facility planned at the Pease International Tradeport has gained the zoning variance it needed to move forward. Development partners The Kane Company and Procon, operating as Aviation Avenue Group LLC, want to build the 209,000-squarefoot plant on a 11.4-acre site off New Hampshire Avenue. The proposed facility will feature robotized assembly teams that are typically made up of fewer but higher-paid employees, the developers say, but they have yet to name the company that would be operating in the building.
CONCORD: The state of New Hampshire will be receiving $1.8 million through a settlement with Google over the online giant’s location-tracking practices, state Attorney General John Formella has announced. The money comes through a $9 million settlement with a total of five states over allegations that Google violated state consumer-protection laws by misleading consumers about these practices. The attorneys general claimed that Google had been misleading consumers since at least 2014. They alleged the company caused users to be confused about account settings and how to limit Google’s location-tracking services.
SALEM: Shake Shack, the popular national restaurant chain, is expected to open its first New Hampshire outlet this summer at the massive Tuscan Village development in Salem. The company, which got its start in 2001 as a hot dog cart in New York City, has 290 locations in 32 states and 150 international locations. Its menu features burgers, hot dogs, fries, frozen custard and shakes. In addition, Tavern in the Square, a Massachusetts-based full-service company, and West Elm, a home and decor store, are also expected to open this summer with their chain’s first Granite State locations. In addition, the 164-room Artisan Hotel, a Marriott brand, will be opening in the village.
CONCORD: To help identify and address barriers workers face regarding access to state unemployment insurance benefits, the U.S. Department of Labor has awarded New Hampshire an equity grant of over $2.1 million that is aimed at enabling the state to expand outreach, promote awareness, improve technology, provide translation services, reallocate staffing and address disadvantaged communities’ other needs. The grants will allow the state to implement projects that seek to remove barriers related to race, age, ethnicity, language proficiency, disability status, geographic location or other systemic issues that make it difficult for people to access unemployment insurance benefits.
MANCHESTER: Stephanie Savard, executive director of the NH Coalition to End Homelessness, has stepped down from the job she has held for the past two and a half years. In her place, Annmarie French, former executive director of the NH Fiscal Policy Institute, has been named interim director of the coalition. Savard made the announcement via an email message to partners and supporters. In it, Savard — a longtime executive at Families in Transition — said she has “accepted a new career opportunity.”
CONCORD: NH Legal Assistance has received a two-year, $425,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to support its work in addressing Fair Housing Act violations. In announcing the grant, HUD said the funding will help NHLA conduct investigations, test and identify discrimination in the rental and sales markets, and work to prevent or eliminate discriminatory housing practices.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The four members of New Hampshire’s congressional delegation — U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan and Reps. Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas — are praising the award of nearly $512,000 to Boire Field Airport in Nashua to help with reconstruction of 11,277 square yards of the existing apron pavement that has reached the end of its useful life. The funds were made available through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the bipartisan infrastructure bill that was signed into law in 2021.
