NEWTON, MA-Locally-based Hospitality Properties Trust purchases four hotels from Marriott International, Inc. for $101.5 million. The hotels will be leased to a subsidiary of HPT but Marriott will manage them.

BOSTON-A local conservative think tank's criticisms has led local hotel and tourism officials to commission a study determining the economic feasibility of the proposed new convention center here in South Boston. The Pioneer Institute contends that the $800 million center should not be built.

BOSTON-A.P. Levin pulls its complex of office and retail properties off the market. The 325,000-sf portfolio, which consists of eight buildings, is located in the burgeoning Downtown Crossing shopping district here.

SOMERVILLE, MA-IKEA Property Inc., the Swedish furniture company tries again with yet another proposal for its site here in Assembly Square. Mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay has been rejected previous proposals for lacking emphasis on mixed-use projects.

CAMBRIDGE, MA-This area's office market is suffering more than most in the recent economic slowdown and high tech bust. Its heavy emphasis on high-tech tenants has caused its vacancy rate to plummet with no signs of a recovery on the horizon.

CONCORD, MA-Starmet Corp. intends to sue the US Army for payment of the costs to clean up its 46-acre property here. The site was recently put on the US Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund list.

CAMBRIDGE, MA-This area's office market is suffering more than most in the recent economic slowdown and high tech bust. Its heavy emphasis on high-tech tenants has caused its vacancy rate to plummet with no signs of a recovery on the horizon.

BOSTON-Representative Paul J.P. Loscocco promotes a bill to protect open spaces in the state. Essentially the bill, which Loscocco authored, would allow states to purchase the development rights to open space sites.