Welcome to Friday.

• Massachusetts millennials are becoming homeowners… in Worcester.
• And check out the Boston Public Market vendor turning popovers into full meals.

🌧️ Today's weather: Showers and thunderstorms likely, with a high of 82 and a low of 66.

🎤 Sounds like: "Legendary" by Rio Da Yung OG, who plays the House of Blues today.

Now that they're in their 40s, Massachusetts millennials are becoming homeowners — not in Boston, but in Worcester.

Why it matters: Greater Boston's affordability crunch drives the news and grinds the gears of anyone saving for a down payment inside 495, but in Worcester, Gen Y has already crossed into the ownership majority.

By the numbers: Worcester's millennial homeowners grew 80% between 2018 and 2023, faster than the national growth rate, according to data from RentCafe.

• That pushed ownership to 55% of the Worcester metro's Gen Y households.
• Renting rose too, up nearly 13% in the same span, a sign Worcester is drawing millennials on both ends of the housing ladder.

Boston, though, remains a renter-majority area for millennials, with roughly 48% owning and 52% renting.

Between the lines: Worcester's relative affordability compared with Boston is a big factor, giving millennials a real path from renting to owning.

What's next: Springfield trails a similar trajectory, with ownership growth nearing 80% over five years.

The bottom line: Boston's millennials are inching toward a homeownership majority, but Worcester already got there.

Spread the word

The East Coast used to have its own version of Sand Hill Road, but it's about to be rezoned out of existence, writes Axios Pro Rata's Dan Primack.

Catch up quick: The area was nicknamed Mount Money, a collection of office parks perched above a reservoir in Waltham, Massachusetts. Just off of Route 128.

• It was the home of VC firms like Greylock, CRV, Battery Ventures, Matrix Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners, and many others.
• If you were a Boston-area founder raising money, it was your first — and maybe only — stop.

Fast forward: Firms began leaving over a decade ago.

• Some relocated to Boston, mirroring the behavior of Silicon Valley firms that opened San Francisco offices. Some failed. Some essentially switched coasts entirely.
• Today, there's seemingly no venture left in the Waltham office parks, although there are a small number of PE firms like Webster Equity Partners and Windjammer Capital.

State of play: Earlier this month, Waltham's City Council overrode a mayoral veto to allow new mixed-use development at one of the office parks, called Bay Colony Center.

• Bay Colony is relatively vacant right now, judging by a visit I made yesterday. One entire brick-and-glass building sits empty, while others are clearly below capacity.
• Parking garages — including one with the "largest garage-mounted solar canopy in the U.S." — are fairly barren.
• An exception was a building whose tenants include defense-tech giant Anduril, which uses the space for both offices and production.
• Given the City Council vote, the former venture capital hub is likely to become home to new apartments and slop bowl chains.

The bottom line: Mount Money has met its maker.

⚖️ Jury deliberations began in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Duxbury mother charged in the 2023 deaths of her three children. (WCVB)

⚽ Boston Legacy FC won't move into White Stadium until 2028, even after the state's high court cleared the way for the stadium project. (The Boston Globe)

• The club will keep playing in Pawtucket, R.I. through the 2027 season.

🏫 Boston Public Schools misspent $857,000 through improper contracting between 2018 and 2024, the state inspector general found. (WBUR)

A Boston Public Market vendor is turning a classic New England side dish into a full-on culinary delight.

State of play: The Popover Lady, aka Naomi Cannistraci, started selling baked goods at weekend farmers markets in 2009 after a career in finance.

• She landed a permanent spot at the Boston Public Market in 2017, where she bakes small batches of popovers, pies and scones fresh every morning.

By the numbers: Cannistraci offers several popover varieties: plain, toasted onion, Asiago cheese, jalapeno, cinnamon sugar and "everything" spice.

Between the lines: The hollow center — typically just a byproduct of the batter's rise — is where the magic really happens.

• The pastry's fluffy opening makes an edible bowl for sweet or savory fillings.
• You can get everything from a pancake, sausage and egg combo to a pepperoni pizza or full-on ham sandwich stuffed into the popover.

The bottom line: It's innovative, delicious and another reason to frequent the Public Market.

🚴 A Boston public improvement board voted unanimously to scrap a planned protected bike lane on a stretch of Bennington Street in East Boston, opting instead for more on-street parking.

⛳ eClinicalWorks CEO Girish Navani paid $6 million for Indian Meadows Golf Club, a nine-hole public course in Westborough near his office. (Boston Business Journal)

• He's the second buyer of a Massachusetts golf course this summer, following a $12 million sale of Indian Pond Country Club in Kingston.

💻 A wave of nuisance lawsuits against operating data centers is emerging nationally as opposition to AI infrastructure grow.

• Noise complaints are driving most of the litigation.

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Deehan is momentarily down the Cape before Election Day.

Steph hopes their weekend beach plans don't get disrupted by rain.

This newsletter was edited by Jeff Weiner.