WHITINSVILLE, MA-In a deal that demonstrates the difficulty of finding large industrial spaces in the Greater Boston area, Auburn Merchandise Distributors, a distributor of consumer products, renews its 92,510-sf lease at One Main St. for another five years.

BOSTON-Property & Portfolio Research LLC is acquired by DMG Information, a subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust, an FTSE 100 London Stock Exchange company. PPR is a locally based commercial real estate research firm.

PLAINVILLE, MA-Insignia Financial Group and DSF Advisors acquire Town and Country Apartments, a 399-unit multifamily apartment complex. The team plans on making improvements to the property and then selling it within two to three years.

BOSTON-The second phase of the revitalization of City Hall Plaza gets under way with the creation of a Government Center Task Force that is charged with coming up with a plan to improve the design and function of the plaza and the Government Center area.

BOSTON-The Crosstown project nails down its financing, clearing the way for construction to start on the 175-room hotel and 650-car garage. The $65-million project is located at the corner of Melnea Cass Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue.

MARLBOROUGH, MA-$20 million in financing is secured for Hall-Gillespie LLC's purchase of the 500,000-sf former Lucent campus at 55 Fairbanks Blvd. CapitalSource Finance LLC, a Chevy Chase, MD-based commercial finance company, provided $20 million in financing.

WALTHAM, MA-In yet a further demonstration that current market conditions have precipitated a flight to quality, Novell, Inc. leases 105,000 sf in Hobbs Office Park. The space had barely hit the market before the Internet company, which is using the new space to consolidate its offices, snatched it up.

BOSTON-The Chinatown Progressive Association tries to prevent the Liberty Place Project--a 439-unit residential complex planned for Chinatown--from being built by filing a lawsuit against the city's zoning board of appeals and the project's developers.