Procaccianti books 2 Manhattan hotels

Cranston-based real estate developer/hotelier The Procaccianti Group has acquired two New York City hotels: the 300-room Tudor Hotel at The United Nations and the 227-room Holiday Inn SoHo. Procaccianti also announced the appointment of former Helmsley Enterprises operations director Louis Llach as area manager. Located in Midtown Manhattan, The Tudor Hotel at the United Nations is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Tudor City historic area and is close to the United Nations, Grand Central Station, the Midtown business district and the Midtown East and Upper East Side residential neighborhoods. The Holiday Inn SoHo is located in the heart of Downtown Manhattan, in the SoHo neighborhood, considered one of the most renowned shopping and entertainment districts. Procaccianti said it plans to invest $8 million to $10 million in the Tudor to upgrade the rooms and public space. The acquisition cost was not released.

Dominion sells Ohio electric facility

Dominion Resources, which owns the Manchester Street power station in Providence, Brayton Point station in Somerset, Salem Harbor station in Salem, Mass. and Millstone I and II nuclear plants in Waterford, Conn., has sold its Dresden Energy electric generation facility in Ohio to AEP Generating Co., a subsidiary of American Electric Power, for approximately $85 million. Dresden is a partially completed 580-megawatt combined-cycle, gas-powered generating unit.

Kopin shines spotlight on 3D video eyewear

Taunton, Mass.-based Kopin Corp. and SENSIO Technologies, headquartered in Montreal, have demonstrated 3D video eyewear showing full DVD-quality movies at the 3D BizEx conference Tuesday and Wednesday in Burlingame, Calif. The symposium focuses on stereoscopic 3D displays, markets and technologies. The 3D eyewear combines Kopin’s binocular optical engine with SENSIO’s decoder chip technology. John C.C. Fan, Kopin president and chief executive officer, said, “SENSIO is a leader in 3D video technology, and major Hollywood studios have granted the distribution rights for their 3D movies in the SENSIO 3D format.” SENSIO develops and markets stereoscopic technologies for immersive cinematographic experiences. Kopin produces lightweight, power-efficient, ultra-small liquid crystal displays and heterojunction bipolar transistors.

Janitors unite against mall owner

Janitors in California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland and Washington are seeking an extraordinary remedy against General Growth Properties, which owns the Providence Place mall in Providence, and two of its cleaning contractors as the companies face new charges that they illegally coerced workers to dissuade them from forming a union. The 10(j) injunction is a special procedure that lets the National Labor Relations Board obtain an order from a federal court to protect workers’ civil rights in serious and egregious situations. If implemented, the remedy would restrain GGP, The Millard Group and Service Management Systems from interfering in workers’ freedom to choose a union — or face contempt of court. During the past few months, workers at more than 20 GGP malls nationwide have joined with the Service Employees International Union to fight for wages, affordable health care and a voice on the job.

New coffee line fosters chimpanzee habitat

One of the world’s foremost chimpanzee experts was in Vermont on Wednesday promoting a new line of coffee that helps protect and preserve chimp habitat in Africa. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ Gombe Reserve coffee will be the first to carry the Jane Goodall “Good for all” certification. Goodall, who has studied chimpanzees in Tanzania since 1960, toured the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters plant in Waterbury and met with employees. The coffee is grown by members of the Kalinzi Cooperative, a group of 2,700 small farmers who live near the Gombe National Park in Tanzania, which is the site of Goodall’s groundbreaking work on chimp behavior. Coffee growing requires shaded areas and that can encourage forest preservation.

Booth Creek sells N.H. ski resort

Vail, Colo.-based Booth Creek Ski Holdings has agreed to sell its stakes in two resorts to Boyne USA Resorts, giving Michigan-based Boyne interests in 10 ski areas. Booth Creek said Wednesday it was selling interests in Loon Mountain Recreation Corp., which operates Loon Mountain resort in New Hampshire, and Ski Lifts Inc., which operates The Summit at Snoqualmie in Washington state, for an undisclosed price. CNL Income Properties, based in Orlando, Fla., owns the resorts, but Booth Creek operated them in a lease deal. CNL will continue to own the assets after the deal with Boyne closes. The transaction was expected to close around the end of the month. Last month, Boyne and CNL announced a similar deal involving Sugarloaf USA and Sunday River ski resorts in Maine.

Conn. firms embrace stem-cell research

Connecticut’s stem-cell research program is drawing a flurry of interest in its second year, with universities and small firms lining up for the $10 million that is available in the latest round of funding. The program has received 87 preliminary requests seeking nearly $45 million for research projects based in the state, up from 75 last year when $20 million was awarded, the Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee learned Tuesday. The program, approved by the legislature and Gov. M. Jodi Rell in 2005, set aside $100 million for Connecticut-based embryonic and adult stem-cell research through 2015. After awarding the $20 million last November, the committee will be handing out $10 million a year for the next eight years.

Casual Male launches shoesxl.com

Canton, Mass.-based Casual Male Retail Group, a specialty retailer of men’s big and tall apparel and operator of LivingXL, Casual Male XL and Rochester Big & Tall stores, has launched ShoesXL, a new Web site and catalog business of shoes from top brand names. Catalogs will be mailed out this week to hundreds of thousands of customers nationwide and www.shoesxl.com was begun late last month. ShoesXL has more than 570 styles in sizes ranging from 12M and 10W to 17M/W and up to widths of 5E. Brands include Bruno Magli, Cole Haan, Donald Pliner, Allen Edmonds, Calvin Klein, Timberland, Steve Madden, Kenneth Cole and Johnston & Murphy.

Maine market will safeguard the earth

The Hannaford Bros. Co. grocery chain says it will build in Augusta, Maine, the first supermarket of its kind anywhere that meets a building industry group’s highest environmental standard. The plan calls for a supermarket so green that plants will be grown on part of its roof to add insulation and control storm water. The proposed 49,000-square-foot market would be the U.S. Green Building Council’s first platinum-certified “green” grocery store in the world, said the chain’s president and chief executive officer Ronald Hodge.

Energy-efficient elevators set for China

Otis Elevator Co., a Farmington, Conn.-based unit of United Technologies Corp., has won an order to supply and install 106 energy-efficient elevators at Prince Town and Sunshine Mansion, two luxury residential developments in China’s booming Liaoning Province. The residential developments will use Otis’ Sky elevators, which incorporate gearless permanent magnet motors that use half the energy of geared machines.