Construction recently began for the University of Massachusetts Medical School new data center.

Alicia McDevitt, director of the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office (MEPA), told an Environmental Business Council breakfast on Friday that the Patrick administration is considering scrapping its Super-MEPA permitting process and will likely eliminate some green building permitting guidelines.

An affiliate of Worcester-based investment and management firm First American Realty Inc. has purchased 218,650 square feet at the Attleboro Corporate Campus for $5.3 million from Conshohoken, Pa.-based Preferred Unlimited Inc.

On behalf of owner, Hanover Shop Realty Trust, The Conrad Group Inc. recently negotiated the sale of 333 Columbia Road in Hanover for $1.6 million.

NAI Hunneman’s suburban leasing team recently leased 105,000 square feet of office space to multiple tenants in the Boston suburbs.

Melville, N.Y.-based Ademco Distribution Inc., a wholesale distributor of security and electronic products, has extended its lease for almost 15,000 square feet at 78 Olympia Ave. in Woburn.

Boston loan marketplace firm DebtX has expanded operations in Spain with the opening of a Madrid office and the appointment of Spanish banking executive Antonio Anglada.

Despite economic hardship, parking garage owners and operators nationwide have managed to hold rates at last year’s levels, according to the latest North American Parking Rate Survey released by real estate services firm Colliers International.

A 526,000-square-foot industrial building located at 199 Lowell Ave. in Central Islip, N.Y. has been sold, according to Boston-based CB Richard Ellis.

The Riverview School in East Sandwich recently broke ground on construction of a new student center.

The Cambridge Savings Charitable Foundation recently awarded a $10,000 grant to the Housing Corporation of Arlington (HCA).

Corporate market services firm Merrill Corp. has leased 17,300 square feet in a 220,000-square-foot office building at 179 Lincoln St. in Boston’s Leather District.

A multi-state settlement, led by the Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, has been reached with Framingham-based TJX Cos. over the massive data breach that placed thousands of consumers’ personal data at risk, nationwide in January 2007.

MassHousing will loan up to $1 million to WinnDevelopment of Boston for the acquisition and renovation of Springfield’s abandoned Longhill Gardens apartment complex, resulting in 109 renovated units of rental housing.

Boston’s Suffolk Construction and Marcobay Construction of Lakeland, Fla. recently won a $13 million contract by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) for a 200-bed bachelor enlisted quarters at the Marine Corp Logistics Base in Albany, Ga.

Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian LLP has signed a 10-year, 31,140-square-foot lease at 850 Winter St. in the 120-acre Reservoir Woods campus in Waltham.