The latest Natick, Mass., business news:
W.T. Rich builds giant treehouse to fulfill cancer patient’s wish
Natick construction management firm W.T. Rich, in partnership with other vendors, recently built a humungous treehouse for Kyle Osterman, a 9-year-old from North Grafton who is undergoing treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. “Kyle’s Krib” became realitythrough Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and this marked the 10,000th wish granted through the program. Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney also made a surprise appearance during the treehouse unveiling, and provided some custom art.
DonutNV food truck coming to town
When new Wachusett Regional High School grad Jake Bruce heads to Babson College this fall, he expects to have a side gig already in the works: Operating a DonutNV food truck that will serve Natick and other Metrowest locations.
“We make hot mini donuts while our customers watch, and pair them with delicious fresh squeezed lemonade available in seven refreshing flavors,” says Bruce, who once he starts college plans to have a general manager handling day-to-day operations while he oversees marketing and scheduling. The business will help Bruce pay for college, he says.
“While we will be serving other towns, I plan to establish a strong community presence in Natick,” says Bruce, who is working on getting Board of Health approval. Natick works as a hub since it will be nearby his college.
The vehicle will make appearances at public and private events, hopefully by mid-July, says the 18-year-old, whose past jobs have included being a lawn-mower, tennis instructor, dish washer, ski instructor, junior technician for All Dry (mold and water damage remediation company) and a sales associate for Club Pilates Shrewsbury.
Bruce will be picking up the DonutNV trailer in Georgia and driving it up here.
From his franchise training, Bruce offers this inside information on tasty donut flavors: Cinnamon Sugar, Oreo, and Fruity Pebbles.” More on DonutNV Natick’s Facebook page.
Mum’s the word on The Block at One South Main
Update (7/11/23): We heard back from a rep from The Block, who says “We are ironing out final engineering plans and plan to move forward with groundbreaking as soon as possible!” Sounds promising…
The recent Stonegate/Nauset groundbreaking at the former St. Patrick site in Natick prompted us to make our every-so-often obligatory inquiry of the developer of The Block, a planned transformation of the now-vacant 1 South Main St., site across from Natick Common. So far, no word.
We haven’t heard anything public about the project since the end of 2022, when the developer of the mixed-use project said May or June 2023 could be a possible groundbreaking timeframe. We’re almost past that time, and still no activity, other than the artsy hearts along the chain-link fence.
The town will look to enforce the permits it issues, but otherwise has limited tools available to help move things along.
The property became vacant following the razing of buildings destroyed in a 2019 fire.
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