BUSINESS IN BRIEF

THE REGION

BRA approves 2 projects

for colleges, 1 for business

- Harvard University got the go-ahead for a $1 billion, 589,000-square-foot, four-building science complex in Allston. The complex,to be built starting this year with a package of neighborhoodimprovements, will house Harvard's Stem Cell Institute and isintended to keep Harvard and Boston in the forefront of research inhow to treat and cure diseases. Harvard said it intends for thecomplex to achieve a difficult Gold environmental rating from the USGreen Building Council. In addition, the board approved John F.Palmieri, director of development services in Hartford, as the 15thdirector of the city's planning and economic development agency. Hewill be paid $168,000 a year and will start Nov. 13.

- Tufts University won approval to expand its Dental Schoolbuilding at Kneeland and Washington streets on its Boston HealthSciences campus with a five-story, 95,000-square-foot addition to a10-story building. The architect is ARC/Architectural Resources inCambridge. The addition will increase capacity by 24 dental chairs,accommodate 52 more students, and 10 new people for the 200-personfaculty, university officials said. Enrollment is now about 800. Theuniversity also committed to improving Washington Street and thebuilding's entrance, making contributions to community dental andneighborhood cleanup programs.

- Boston Properties Inc.'s revision of plans to redevelop threehistoric buildings at Russia Wharf, along Congress Street at theRose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, was approved. The $500 millionproject will yield 215 residential units under a 31-story glassoffice tower. The complex will have about 32,500 square feet ofspace for retail, restaurant, performance, and cultural uses. Thetower has been shifted 15 feet farther away from the Greenway,toward the Fort Point Channel. One floor each in the two buildingsclosest to the channel, as well as cross-bracing considered to beunsightly, will be eliminated. Construction is expected to startsoon with completion set for 2011.

(Thomas C. Palmer. Jr.)

Utah company acquired

for automatic data backup

EMC Corp. of Hopkinton has purchased Berkeley Data Systems Inc.,a privately held Utah company that runs the Mozy automatic databackup service. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal putsEMC into a new business - selling data backup services to consumersas well as business clients. Mozy subscribers pay $4.95 a month fora service that uploads data from their computers via the Internet,then encrypts and stores it at a remote location. The serviceprotects users against data loss due to theft, disaster, orequipment malfunction. Carbonite Inc., of Boston, offers a similarservice. (Hiawatha Bray)

Delta to add flights from

Boston to 2 N.Y. areas

Delta Air Lines will begin flying between Boston and New York'sSaranac Lake and Plattsburgh on Oct. 31. The airline will offer oneor two round-trips each day between Logan International Airport andSaranac Lake's Adirondack Regional Airport. It will operate oneround-trip each weekday to Plattsburgh International Airport and aone-way flight to Plattsburgh on Sundays. The new service will be on19-seat Beechcraft 1900D aircrafts operated by Big Sky Airlines, aDelta Connection carrier. On Nov. 4, Big Sky will also add two moreround-trips each weekday and one or two round-trips on weekendsbetween Boston and Bangor, Maine. (Nicole C. Wong)

THE NATION

Verizon to offer model

in challenge to iPhone

Verizon Wireless, the second-largest US mobile-phone service,plans to challenge Apple Inc.'s iPhone by releasing touch-screendevices that browse the Web and play music. The phones, from LGElectronics Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., will go on sale withina few weeks, Verizon said. The devices will join Research In MotionLtd.'s BlackBerry Pearl in anchoring Verizon's product lineup thisholiday season, the company said. (Bloomberg)

Bear Stearns to lay off 310,

merge its mortgage units

Bear Stearns Cos. said it is laying off 310 workers and fusingits two mortgage businesses, after turmoil in the home loan industrycontributed to a dramatic slide in the investment bank's profit thissummer. The news came only hours after Credit Suisse Group saidproblems in the mortgage market will linger as long as 18 months. Itdisclosed a fresh round of layoffs in its commercial mortgage-backed securities division, mostly in New York. Bear said it isintegrating its Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage and Encore Creditdivisions into a single subsidiary. The new unit will soon beginoffering loans that are eligible to be purchased by government-sponsored entities. Such loans are considered safer than most. (AP)

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