Laura Trust, the owner of Newton-based Finagle a Bagel, was stricken.
Her toddler had severe developmental difficulties, and some specialists told her he may never talk or be enrolled in a mainstream classroom.
That was more than a decade ago. Today, that little boy is a healthy, college-bound 17-year-old at Brookline High School, and Trust credits the Brookline Early Education Program, or BEEP, with his transformation.
“The program identified his needs, and he turned into a great kid,” says Trust. “They were able to take a child and give him the tools he needed to find his way.”
Now she’s saying thank you with a grand gesture.
The Trust family, through its charitable Cause Du Jour Foundation, has bought a 9,000-square-foot site in Brookline’s Coolidge Corner (at 127 Harvard St.) and will pay for it to become BEEP’s headquarters.
An old Victorian home on the property will be demolished and replaced with a modern, seven-level building with classrooms, meeting space, administrative offices, and a playground. The project’s estimated cost is $10 million, and its target opening date is September 2019.
“My mission is to give it a home,” Trust says of BEEP, which is part of Brookline Public Schools but doesn’t have a centralized location. “It will be a place that every family in Brookline can bring their child to, and exactly what the town needs to make the program more accessible.”
Trust says key players in the process include BEEP principal Vicki Milstein, Brookline school Superintendent Andrew Bott, and town counsel Joslin Ham Murphy.
“The earlier you get to these kids, the more successful they will be,” adds Trust, who has three children. “You’ll get them to reach their potential, whatever that potential may be.” — SACHA PFEIFFER
Davio’s to expand again
Steve DiFillippo may be a North Shore guy, but he’s been trying to make a South Shore move for years.
Finally, the chief executive of the Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse chain has found an opening: He has leased about 10,000 square feet in Braintree’s South Shore Plaza to open his ninth Davio’s this summer. About 100 people will work there.
DiFillippo says he was familiar with the folks at the mall’s owner, Simon Property Group, because his Atlanta restaurant is in a Simon complex. He jumped at the opportunity when he heard from them that the Joe’s American Bar & Grill in Braintree would be closing.
DiFillippo likes the location: at the mall’s entrance, visible from Granite Street, with high ceilings and an outdoor patio. (It’s also on his way to his Yankee Trader Seafood plant in Pembroke.) He’ll make some changes to the Joe’s space by expanding the ground-floor area, moving the bathrooms up from the basement and creating private function rooms.
Word about the new restaurant started circulating in February, when South Shore Bank CEO Jim Dunphy hosted a networking event at Herb Chambers’ Lexus dealership in Hingham. DiFillippo says he hadn’t intended to unveil the Braintree opening there. But he mentioned it to Chambers and Dunphy, and then Dunphy announced it to the crowd.
Tavistock Group owns Joe’s now, but the chain was overseen for years by restaurateur Charlie Sarkis. — JON CHESTO
Will the Seaport get arts?
Boston’s arts community is trying to make it clear: They want a home in the Seaport.
More than 100 musicians, stage actors, and their supporters sent letters in recent weeks to the Boston Planning & Development Agency, urging it to require WS Development to include a large performing arts center in its plans for the booming business district.
WS, which bought 13 acres in the Seaport in 2015, recently filed a proposal that would eliminate a 200,000 square-foot performing arts center on Congress Street that was planned in 2010. Instead, it would build a few smaller spaces, their sizes and other specifics to be determined.
No thanks, said a slew of letter-writers, many affiliated with the Boston Lyric Opera, which recently became homeless after an 18-year run at the Shubert Theater. They want the original plan.
“WE NEED THIS SPACE!” wrote Britt Brown, a singer with the BLO. “As a Boston-based artist (and I can speak on behalf of MANY of my friends), I am embarrassed by our lack of a venue for larger-scale works.”
WS’s plan had plenty of supportive letters, too, ranging from management at the Barking Crab to David Gibbons, executive director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority. And the developer says it’s committed to “creating a robust cultural destination.”
But artists know how to make themselves heard. Stay tuned to see if the agency listens. — TIM LOGAN
Progress buys a Calif. firm
Bedford-based Progress, a vestige of the first wave of tech companies on Route 128, is taking a big step into artificial intelligence.
Progress, which helps companies develop digital business applications, is paying $30 million to acquire DataRPM.
The California company creates programs for manufacturers that analyze data to predict maintenance issues or equipment failures. Its customers include Jaguar, Samsung, and Mitsubishi.
Progress will retain DataRPM’s entire 39-person team and continue to sell the product on its own.
But it will also integrate DataRPM’s technology into its own software products, which can help companies develop everything from apps to management programs for retail stores to mortgage application systems.
Yogesh Gupta, the chief executive of Progress, said that the company was interested in buying DataRPM largely because of potential interest from software developers that license Progress products.
More than half of them work with manufacturers who could find DataRPM’s products attractive, he said.
“Those companies are looking for capabilities that they can sell to and license to manufacturing companies,” Gupta added. — ADAM VACCARO
Can’t keep a secret? Tell us. E-mail Bold Types at boldtypes@globe.com.