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PictureThis

Send photos with a caption and contact information to: ‘Picture This’ c/o BusinessWest Magazine, 1441 Main Street, Springfield, MA 01103 or to [email protected]

Gold Standard

Douglas Bowen, president and CEO of PeoplesBank, and Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham, chair of the U.S. Green Building Council, Massachusetts Chapter – West Branch, display the LEED Gold certification for the bank’s year-old branch at 547 Memorial Ave. in West Springfield, which was constructed, and operates, in an environmentally friendly manner. It is the second PeoplesBank branch to receive LEED certification, the first building to be awarded a LEED certification in the town, and one of only two community banks in Massachusetts that has achieved LEED Gold status.

















Check, Please

Max Burger, the second upscale burger restaurant and ninth restaurant of the Hartford-based Max Restaurant Group, celebrated a grand opening in late July at its 684 Bliss Road location in Longmeadow. A portion of the evening’s proceeds, totaling $9,025, were presented a week later to the Longmeadow Excellence in Education Foundation (LEEF), a private, volunteer, nonprofit educational foundation that was created to enrich and enhance the quality of education in Longmeadow public schools. Pictured, from left, are Justin Dion, president of LEEF; Tim Taillefer, managing partner of Max Burger; and Todd Ratner, LEEF board member.





Dream Car

Mike Balise (far left), vice president of Balise Motor Sales, shows off a Lexus LFA (sticker price: $454,000) at an unveiling celebration at the Lexus showroom on July 26. This model is one of only 500 (the 349th, to be exact) in the world, and one of only 50 with the specialty ‘Nürburgring package.’ The car, which has a V-10 engine, was tested at the famous German Nürburgring track and set the 10th-fastest time ever for a production vehicle. The orange racecar will be viewable at Balise Lexus and various promotional events in the New England area.