Lots of high-dollar real estate transactions in Stafford: CommonWealth REIT bought six office buildings, bringing the total office space it has purchased in North Stafford in the past year to 348,000 square feet. A tightly secured building off U.S. 17 used by the FBI sold for $30.3 million. And the two Greenfield Senior Living facilities sold for about $13.1 million. Meanwhile Tridex Associates moved forward on its 300,000-square-foot office, manufacturing, research and storage development facility off Eskimo Hill Road.

A five-year, $1.7 million makeover of the 46,000-square-foot A. Smith Bowman Distillery in the Bowman Center off State Route 2 in Spotsylvania began. Meanwhile master distiller Joe Dangler retired, and Truman Cox took over.

Fredericksburg City Council approved incentive packages for two new businesses--the Buttermilk & Old Lace restaurant on Caroline Street and AAA Mid-Atlantic's car-care facility and retail location in Central Park. Council also selected First Choice Public-Private Partners for the downtown courthouse project and approved all the steps necessary to buy the Masonic Lodge riverfront property using a $200,000 EDA grant and low-interest loan.

The National Slavery Museum declared bankruptcy, postponing Fredericksburg's plans to sell its property in Celebrate Virginia South to recoup taxes.

Medic-1 Clinics, which recently closed its final area urgent-care facility, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. In other medical news, Fitch Ratings and Moody's reduced Mary Washington Healthcare's bond rating; the new 40,000-square-foot Surgi-Center of Central Virginia medical facility next to Fredericksburg's Dixon Park complex opened; Dr. Nather Ansari bought a parcel in front of the Walmart store on Southpoint Parkway in Spotsylvania for a primary and urgent care clinic; HealthSouth got approval to expand its Fredericksburg rehabilitation hospital; and MWHC opened its new regional cancer center. Several additional medical office buildings are planned locally.

The new Walmart store at the King George Gateway shopping center opened. Also in King George, Cleydael, the historic home where assassin John Wilkes Booth sought refuge, was sold to Ed Veazey. And in other Walmart news, the company proceeded on its plans in Orange County.