New Del. facility will employ 850
Amazon.com Inc. confirmed Tuesday that it would open a new one million-square- foot distribution center in Delaware. Officials said the plan was completed late last week after Amazon's real estate developer settled on land in Middletown. The facility will be the second warehouse for the company in Delaware. The company, the world largest online retailer, opened a facility in New Castle in 1997. Seattle-based Amazon said the new center would employ more than 850. - AP
Most refinanced loans are fixed rate
Fixed-rate loans accounted for more than 95 percent of mortgages refinanced in the fourth quarter, Freddie Mac
reported. An increasing share of refinancing borrowers chose to shorten their loan terms during the fourth
quarter. Of borrowers who paid off a 30-year, fixed-rate loan, 43 percent chose a 15- or 20-year loan, the highest such share since the first quarter of 2003. Fifty-eight percent of borrowers who had a hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage transitioned to a fixed-rate loan, Freddie Mac reported.
- Alan J. Heavens
Skanska rolls out a new division
Skanska USA, a Blue Bell-based provider of construction management, preconstruction, and design-build services, has formed a division to focus on general contracting, tenant improvements, corporate and commercial interiors, and renovation projects in the Philadelphia region. The new entity, Skanska Special Projects Group, will be led by Rob Cisler, who has been with Skanska since 2000. That year, the company entered the Philadelphia market via the acquisition of Barclay White Inc. Its parent company, Skanska AB, has headquarters in Sweden. Together, Skanska USA's building- construction and civil- infrastructure units generated $4.9 billion in revenue in 2011.
- Diane Mastrull
Jacovini to head Realtors association
