Exclusive: Former state legislator named governor's energy adviser

Gov. Tom Wolf has named a lawyer and former state legislator as his top energy adviser.

David W. Sweet, of the law firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, will serve dual roles. His title will be deputy secretary for the state Department of Community and Economic Development, but he also will serve as the governor’s adviser for energy and advanced manufacturing and oversee the governor’s action teams, according to Wolf spokesman Jeff Sheridan.

Sweet served as the state’s bond counsel on the issuance…

Spinoff of Lovelace hospital operations both a legal and business move

Ventas Inc. (NYSE: VTR) agreed to acquire Lovelace Health System’s parent company, Ardent Health Services, last week. The move to separate hospital operations from the owned real estate property is both a business move and a legal one. According to Kevin Gwin, vice president of patient experience and communications for Ardent Health Services, the spin-off is in compliance with legal regulations regarding real estate investment trusts.

“There’s going to be a property and an operations company —…

Plymouth Corporate Center sold for $62.5M ahead of TCF Bank move

Carlson Real Estate sold the Plymouth Corporate Center for $62.5 million Friday.

Minnetonka-based entity TFO REVA Wildamere PCC bought the suburban office building at 1405 Xenium Lane, according to a certificate of real estate value filed with Hennepin County.

Minnetonka-based Carlson Real Estate leased most of the building last year to Wayzata-based TCF Financial Corp. (NYSE: TCB), which is planning to move 1,150 hundred workers from downtown Minneapolis into the space this year following a major…

Portland investors scoop up another downtown Seattle hotel

Provenance Hotels has been on a buying spree in Seattle, where it has acquired another property: Mayflower Park, the longest continuously operating hotel in the city.

Portland-based Provenance, which is known for teaming up with local artists and other businesses to create unique hotels, on Sunday announced it has acquired the Mayflower Park, 405 Olive Way. Provenance and NBP Capital, also of Portland, paid $20 million for the property where the 160-room Mayflower has operated since 1927.

The hotel…

Hopple Street interchange won’t fully open until 2020 and some businesses are protesting

After years of construction, those living and working in Uptown will have to wait another five years for easier access to Interstate 75 northbound.

That’s because the city of Cincinnati and the Ohio Department of Transportation’s plan to build a $42 million connector bridge from I-74 in South Cumminsville to Central Parkway near Cincinnati State will delay the northbound ramp from Hopple to I-75 until 2020.

The move has drawn protests from Camp Washington manufacturing businesses that depend…