Fidelity settling in at Danvers branch
Fidelity Investments' new branch in Danvers has drawn new customers curious about what the world's biggest mutual fund company is doing in town.
Branch manager Neil Stanton hopes more folks stop by to talk stocks, retirement planning, or open an account. "We have a great many customers on the North Shore," Stanton said, standing in the light and airy lobby. "Our customers work with us online and over the phone. Now they can work with us in person."
Fidelity opened the branch July 30 in the former Red Sauce restaurant on Endicott Street. Although a series of restaurants opened and closed on the site, Fidelity is confident it will beat the odds. "We believe this is a very good location," Stanton said.
The branch is Fidelity's eighth investor center in Massachusetts and 116th nationwide. The 6,900-square-foot center is Fidelity's latest prototype. The lobby is painted in pale green and yellow. A flat-screen television is tuned to financial news channels. Counter staff accept deposits, but customers also can log onto automated deposit machines. The center has 12 employees, but hopes to have 20, Stanton said.
Financial planners meet with clients to discuss investment options, including college planning and retirement.
"A lot of people want to know how much money they'll need," said Stanton, a Fidelity veteran who previously worked in Portland, Maine, and Merrimack, N.H.
Fidelity's arrival on the North Shore comes long after competitors opened local offices. More recently, community banks have added investment services. But Fidelity, with customer assets of $3 trillion, will stake its claim, Stanton said.
"The vast majority of our customers are average investors," he said.
Tourism council boosts Lynn
An urban escape to Lynn is planned for Thursday by a regional tourism council, which aims to shed new light on the art and culture of an old city.
A special train carrying invited guests from Boston will roll into town at 4 p.m. for the monthly Third Thursdays in Central Square celebration, and to visit the Friendship of Salem, the official tall ship for Essex County, which will be docked for four days at the Seaport Marina on the Lynnway.
"We want to get people to Lynn," said Julie McConchie, executive director of the North of Boston Convention and Visitor Bureau, the regional tourism council based in Peabody. "It's got all sorts of stuff going on. We want to introduce people to it."
Guests on the train, to be greeted by a costumed Lydia Pinkham, Lynn's 19th-century home remedy advocate, will include concierge staff from Boston hotels. "We want to show them how fast and easy it is for guests at their hotel to get up to the North Shore," McConchie said.
Lynn is the first urban area included in Escapes North, the council's cultural tourism promotion for Essex County. The tourism council received a $35,000 grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to promote the arts in revitalized areas. The money was used to advertise the Third Thursdays/Friendship event on websites and at MBTA stations, McConchie said.
Central Square is home to artist live/work condos, galleries, a historical museum, and new restaurants. Third Thursdays,, a monthly promotion, aims to draw visitors. LynnArts will kick things off at 5 p.m. with an opening reception for "Place and Memory," an exhibition by the Greater Lynn Photographic Association. A costume dog parade follows at 6. Other special events run through 7 o'clock.
The Friendship will be docked in Lynn from Wednesday to Sunday. The ship is a replica of a 1797 East Indiaman merchant ship that sailed from Salem in the 18th and 19th centuries. It's home port is the Salem Maritime National Historic Site. Its goodwill visit to Lynn includes an opening ceremony at 9 a.m. on Thursday. Free public tours will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. The ship leaves Lynn at noon on Sunday.
Group pays $12.9m for Saucony site
The former Saucony sneaker headquarters at 13 Centennial Drive in Peabody has been sold for $12.9 million to a group of West Coast real estate investors.
The 134,164-square-foot building now houses Broadbridge Inc., a New York-based publisher of financial statements, that has about 150 employees there. The sale does not affect Broadbridge, which received a seven-year lease under the terms of the sale, the broker said.
"This is strictly an investment," said Gregg Klemmer, principal of Klemmer Associates of Winchester, which handled the sale. "We said, 'Give us your bids.' We didn't set a price.' "
Columbia Massachusetts Centennial Industrial LLC officially bought the property from RFP Juniper Centennial LLC on July 25, according to filings at the Registry of Deeds in Salem.
RFP bought the building from Saucony Inc. for $ 7.8 million in June 2006, the deed shows. The building was vacant after Stride Rite Corp. bought Saucony and closed the Peabody headquarters. RFP bought the building, found a new tenant, and put the property on the market in May, according to Klemmer.
Datebook
Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray will speak to the Revere Chamber of Commerce on Aug. 29 during a 7:30 a.m. gathering at the Four Points Sheraton hotel, at routes 1 and 60. The cost is $15 for members, $20 for nonmembers. For reservations, call the chamber at 781-289-8009.
Kathy McCabe can be reached at kmccabe@globe.com. 
