Five things: Southie power plant, Fast 50 event, Harvard cuts and what caused Tatum's injury

Business Journals

14-05-2025

Good morning, Boston. We had a blast at the Fast 50 event last night at Big Night Live — here are the winners, and stay tuned for photos later today. Now, here are the five things you need to know in local business news to start your busy Wednesday.
1. Southie project plans shift as market slows
Grant Welker reports that the old Edison power plant in South Boston and its developers face a very different real estate market from when planning started in 2016. Now, the developer is considering changing the order in which it plans to build the six-building, 1.7-million-square-foot project.
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2. Trump slashes another $450M in Harvard grants
Welker also reports that the Trump administration yesterday said it is terminating roughly $450 million in grants to Harvard, on top of the $2.2 billion in funding already cut.
3. Mass. biotech leaders say drug pricing order 'not the solution'
The executive order that President Donald Trump signed Monday — which he says will reduce prescription drug prices — was met with opposition from Massachusetts' life sciences trade group, Hannah Green reports.
On the calendar: Join the Boston Business Journal for our 9th annual Business of Pride event, featuring our 2025 LGBT Corporate Ally Award and LGBT Trailblazer Award honorees.
4. Fastest-growing companies feted
The No. 1 fastest-growing company in Massachusetts over the three-year period from 2021-2024 is mental health and wellness company Uwill of Natick. Uwill was among several awardees recognized last night at the BBJ's annual Fast 50 event, including an architecture firm that grew revenue 136% and a 30-year-old facilities-services business that grew 73% in just the past three years.
5. Cambridge cancer biotech halves workforce
Green also reports that cash-strapped Leap Therapeutics is making significant job cuts as it navigates a 'difficult market environment.'
What else you need to know
By the numbers
600 — housing units that could start as soon as next year at the former Edison power plant in Southie (see above), instead of the 860,000 — square feet of office and R&D that had been planned initially
could start as soon as next year 1,000 (approximately) — Aramark union workers at Fenway Park and MGM Music Hall who are planning a strike vote in June to advocate for higher wages.
planning a strike vote 52
— employees at Leap Therapeutics, half of which are expected to be laid off
What's going on?
The Charles River Regional Chamber's annual Spring Business Breakfast: 2025 Economic Outlook is this morning at the Needham Sheraton Hotel, featuring Ashley Stolba, the interim state Secretary of Economic Development, and Mary Burke, a principal economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. See you there?
En español
The number of people in Massachusetts identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender is growing — and a new study shows significant differences across age groups. This article is also available in Spanish in partnership with El Planeta Media. Este informe está disponible en español, traducido por El Planeta Media.
Today in history
On this day in 1984, lawyer Jan Schlichtmann filed the first motion in the Woburn case made famous by the book and film "A Civil Action." (Read more at MassMoments.org)
What's good on WERS-FM
Most Wanted Man, by Lucy Dacus
What I'm listening to
Carrigan & Co. podcast
What I'm watching
Celtics City, on HBO/Max
Who's at fault for Tatum's injury?
The news Monday night about Celtics star Jayson Tatum's ruptured his achilles tendon came as a shock to everyone. As a 'non-contact' injury, every Celtics fan is looking around helplessly and wondering, 'how did this happen?'
I have the answer.
I discovered that a member of the Business Journal newsroom who hails from Los Angeles and is an avowed Lakers fan — along with four friends — cursed the Celtics at the start of the playoff series against the Knicks. It wasn't an ordinary curse. No run-of-the-mill hex. They pooled their money and purchased a bad luck spell from a witch who sells such curses on Etsy.
This is not a joke. They really did this.
I have no proof that their purchased curse — which could also be to blame for the Celtics choking so badly in Games 1 and 2 — was powerful enough to do the damage done to Tatum. I'm told they spent $3 each. But it was a bad-luck spell they purchased, and there's no worse luck than what happened to Tatum on the court Monday night.
I'm not revealing the name of this particular employee, to protect him from any ill-intentioned Celtics fans who may read this. But I have suggested he start wearing an Italian horn necklace and carrying a Mexican milagro or a rabbit's foot if he knows what's good for him.
PARTING SHOT
Speaking of basketball, how many times have you passed by public courts in rough shape, full of cracks, weeds and divots? This New York artist resurfaces public courts and turns them into pieces of art:
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