Big Event: It happens every two years: the PHCC of Greater Boston's Industry Appreciation Night. On Friday evening, September 24th at Lombardo's in Randolph: comedian Jimmy Tingle, and a prominent soon-to-be announced speaker. Look for information on tickets and sponsorships in mail soon.

Signs of Life? Mass. is leading the nation in filling vacant store space, says Boston Globe. Meanwhile, Boston Business Journal reports that a number of entrepreneurs are opening new restaurants -- which they are purchasing at bargain prices. Restaurant rents have dropped from 10 or 11 percent of sales, to 6 or 7 percent.

Down: After rising for three straight months, local business confidence sagged in July, according to Associated Industries of Massachusetts. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal says that private construction spending dropped 0.6% in June, although if you include government spending, there was a slight increase.

Home Sales: The Boston Globe reports Massachusetts single-family home sales rose just under 25 percent in June compared to a year ago. The median selling price rose more than 8 percent to $331,150. This was the largest number of homes sold since June 2006. But in July home sales of homes and condos declined -- as many predicted they would -- in part because of the expiration of the Federal home-buyer tax credit.

Hotel: The Fairmont Copley Hotel just sold for $98.5 million to a Texas-based real estate trust. They say they will spend $20m to renovate the 383-room historic hotel.

Biotech: Shire Pharmaceuticals has purchased four buildings in Lexington for more than $200 million. Novarits in Cambridge has also said it will expand, though perhaps not in the coming year. The biotech market is expected to remain a long-term strength for Mass. economy.

Commercial Tenants: With new construction in the Boston area at a virtual standstill, the one game in town may be tenant work. The Hancock Tower recently landed a major new renter: Bain Capital, which will take 7 floors of the building. Bain will be leaving 111 Huntington Avenue, which is owned by Boston Properties.

Out West: The housing market is dead in many states, especially in places like Nevada, Arizona and southern California. But some large builders like Toll Brothers are purchasing large tracts of discounted land, in anticipation that population will inevitably rise, along with land values.

Investments: Interesting detail in the recent Construction Institute / Cornell University study on the impacts of union construction in Massachusetts: building trades pension funds have $1.56 billion invested in local real estate development.

PHCC / Local 12 Win $306,000 Green Technology Grant: The PHCC of Greater Boston and Local 12 teamed up to win a grant of over $306,000 for a special training program in solar thermal and rainwater reuse technology. New demonstration systems will be constructed at our training center in Dorchester, where we will train 250 plumbers in green technologies for the plumbing industry. The grant is the result of President Obama's stimulus program.

BID: A project will raise millions of dollars for improvements in Downtown Crossing: a new Business Improvement District. The district raises voluntary fees from commercial property owners. BIDs in NYC are credited with great improvements in areas like Times Square.

Lead Problems: A new EPA regulation requires contractors -- including plumbing and HVAC contractors -- to become certified in lead-safe practices. According to Engineering News Record (ENR) the feds will be enforcing new regs requiring certification by the end of the year.

Suffolk Deal with Dietze: Suffolk Construction was slated to purchase Dietze Construction of Washington DC. It was part of Suffolk's planned expansion into other markets, and followed its purchase of Berry Construction, which has a strong foothold in health facility construction. Dietze has been a major player in federal government construction.

But Bankruptcy: But not long after the planned purchase was announced, Dietze said it was filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Suffolk then negotiated a new deal. According to the Washington Business Journal, Suffolk will buy certain projects and assets from Dietze, subject to the approval of the bankruptcy court.

Fish: Suffolk CEO John Fish was recently honored with a cover article in Engineering News Record. The article described Fish as "the Alpha Contractor." There is no doubt about Fish's determination to make Suffolk one of the nation's leading contracting firms. Currently Suffolk ranks 31 on ENR's list of top 400 contractors. Annual revenues: $1.7 billion.

Job Loss: During this recession, men in Massachusetts have lost jobs at an exceptionally steep rate -- the highest in the nation. Between 2007 and 2009, male employment in the state dropped by 135,000. Yet the female workforce grew by 54,000. Professor Andrew Sum of Northeastern says that the largest declines in employment occurred in male dominated fields like construction and manufacturing. The Mass. recession has not been nearly as severe in fields that employ more women -- like health care and education.

Demographic Changes: The New York Times reports that in one decade, most Americans under 18 will come from the ranks of today's minorities. By about 2040, the true "minority" population in America will be non-Hispanic whites.

Retirement: According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute 29% of current retirees saved nothing for retirement. Another third saved only $50,000. Of course, most get Social Security, and some have pensions. But pensions are regarded by some business leaders as risky, since they base their "guaranteed benefits" on performance of stock market.

Wages: Across the country, some workers are taking pay cuts. Recent cuts: State troopers in Vermont, 4%; City of Albuquerque, 1.8%; Westin Hotel in Providence, 20%. The more hard-hit the industry, the more likely pay cuts become. Nationwide, wages have been flat for the last 18 months.

Obama Pushes Pipeline: New York Times reports that Obama is struggling with members of his own party over construction of a multi-billon dollar pipeline from Canada that would bring oil to the US. Environmentalists are opposed - not to the pipeline itself, but because of pollution caused in the process of removing the oil from the so-called tar sands of Canada. Final decision will be left to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Hiring Compliance: The City of Boston is considering requiring monthly public lists of companies doing business with the city, detailing their rankings in terms of hiring Boston residents, minorities, and women.