Cape Cod lifestyle in Quincy

This free-standing single-family is part of a Nantucket-like condo development in Quincy's Marina Bay neighborhood.

The four-bedroom house at 12 Hutchinson Lane is in the 18-acre Chapman's Reach planned community, one of 152 single-families and townhouses built in 1999 and designed to resemble a Cape Cod village. Homes are set close to one another to create an urban feel that encourages walking. Transom windows ensure privacy from neighbors, with full windows facing front and back as well as into an enclosed patio. Parking garages are in alleys behind the houses.

This 3,928-square foot two-story home, one of 48 single families in the complex, has 2,400 square feet of living space on the first floor, including the master bedroom suite and is available for $1,180,000.

The well-designed two-story home, with an exterior of yellow clapboard and gray cedar shingles has a front brick walkway and covered farmer's porch. It opens into a double-height foyer with chair-rail wainscoting and maple floors.

On one side of the foyer through a marble column arch is a formal dining room with bay windows, maple floors and a wrought-iron chandelier. On the other side is a guest bedroom with a connecting marble bathroom.

But the showpiece space of the home lies straight ahead in a 25-foot-high maple-floored living room with five sets of double-tiered windows. The west-facing wall of windows looks out into a bluestone patio. In the center of the room is a gas fireplace with fluted columns and green marble surround.

The adjacent recessed-lit kitchen features ceramic tile floors, 32 maple cabinets with beige Giallo Veneziano granite counters and island with pendant lighting overhead. Stainless-steel General Electric Monogram appliances include a side-by-side refrigerator, a gas stove and a compactor. The owners recently added a Bosch dishwasher.

There's an adjacent breakfast nook with high transom windows on one side and glass doors on the other that open onto the nicely landscaped enclosed outdoor patio.

Behind the kitchen is a laundry room with a full-size washer and dryer and the hallway continues down to double doors that lead into the master bedroom suite.

The carpeted master bedroom has a vaulted ceiling with a clerestory window and glass doors out to the patio. There are two walk-in closets with built-in wardrobes. The en-suite bathroom has a white Botticino marble floor with black marble inlay. There are Corian-topped vanities on either side of the room, and a whirlpool tub and separate walk-in shower, both with white tile walls.

Off the bedroom is a hallway with direct access to a two-car garage and there are three deeded outdoor spaces.

Above the garage is a carpeted game/media room with a Tiffany-style lamp over a billiards table, which is negotiable.

A distinctive winding maple staircase from the foyer leads to two bedrooms and a study on the house's main second floor. The carpeted study overlooks the living room. The two carpeted bedrooms are on either side of a walkway that overlooks the living room and the foyer. There's a laundry closet here, as well as a full bathroom with a Fiberglas shower.

The house has an additional, uncounted 2,400-square-foot unfinished basement, with lots of storage and room for additional living space. It also houses two gas-fired forced hot air heating systems and a two-zone central air-conditioning system.

Broker: Fred Alibrandi of Otis & Ahearn at 617-851-8050

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New look for Lexus GS

After a model year on the sidelines, Lexus has redesigned and reintroduced the 2013 GS350 to the marketplace and its arrival has the Audi A6, BMW 535 and Mercedes E class shuffling over to make room.

Pacific Rim cars have rapidly closed the gap on the Europeans when it comes to combining luxury and inspired performance. A slightly wider footprint, crisper suspension, more responsive steering and powerful engine places this luxury sport solidly right in the mix.

Our all-wheel-drive test model — the base model is a rear-wheel only — is powered by a 3.5-liter V-6 direct injection engine that cranks a robust 306 horsepower. The multi-link rear suspension, gas pressurized shocks and stabilizer bar reduce the pitch and roll, delivering the solid ride that sports enthusiasts desire when pushing a car hard.

The aggressive hourglass styling on the nose sweeps into graceful lines hinting at the fact that the GS350 is a sports sedan at heart, but can smoothly get you to the office or dinner without wrinkling your clothes.

Just settle into the rich leather multi-adjustable sport style driver's seat and instantly notice the updates to the luxurious cabin. Lexus-branded creature comforts abound, starting with a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, a quiet ride, nifty premium sound system and the new navigation package, which includes an intuitive 12-inch touch screen. Soft touches and craftsmanship show at every turn with a combination of man-made materials and leather trim offset by brushed aluminum and wood grained highlights. The stitching in the dash is faux, but looks natural. The cabin and trunk are spacious yet the sedan retains a nice, sporty feel.

As with all Toyota high-end models, the optional mouse controller allows the driver to manipulate the car systems, but please use the redundant steering wheel controls when driving.

Our tester priced out at $55,407 and was loaded with a vast array of standard features, including backup camera. But to get blind-spot monitoring and rain-sensing wipers, you'll have to invest in a pricey upgrade. I guess they have that in common with their German competitors. I'd like to see Lexus upgrade the audio quality of the tinny hands-free phone in this car.

I really enjoyed driving this car. It's powerful and effortless to maneuver, yet pop it into sport mode and the transmission shift points adjust to create a smart, aggressive ride. I managed to get close to the class average 23 mpg during spirited driving, but squeaked out over 27 running the car on ECO mode on the highway.

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Name game for Tommy

Plans to memorialize outgoing Mayor Thomas M. Menino's contributions to Boston have yet to begin, but city leaders have some suggestions — including renaming the concrete jungle that is City Hall Plaza.

"I like the idea … plant some grass, and some trees — we could have a whole new Menino Plaza," City Councilor Salvatore LaMattina said. "I would love to see a Menino statue on Menino Plaza."

Possibilities for commemorating the mayor's legacy can be found in every part of the city, according to LaMattina. "In my neighborhood, there's the police station in Charlestown, the schools, the parks," he said. "And in East Boston, a brand-new library is being built as we speak."

There's strong precedent for honoring mayors: the Maurice J. Tobin Memorial Bridge, Hynes Convention Center, Curley Community Center and the Kevin White statue at Faneuil Hall. In fact, Menino already has a Hyde Park library wing and a Boston Medical Center pavilion named after him.

"We should pay tribute to his inspiring leadership in a lasting, public way," said Paul Guzzi, CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.

City Councilor Michael Ross identified what he sees as the "perfect" edifice to bear Menino's name — the new school planned for Commercial Street in the North End, especially since it's the first downtown public elementary school since the Jimmy Carter administration, he said. "That school should be called the Thomas M. Menino Elementary School," he said. "It's the former Mitt Romney (presidential campaign) headquarters. That would be the greatest irony."

Back in 2006, Menino confidantes floated the idea of renaming the $800 million Boston Convention & Exhibition Center as the Thomas M. Menino Convention Center, but there's been no such current talk, a BCEC spokesman said.

City Council President Stephen J. Murphy threw out this suggestion: putting Menino's name on the Ferdinand building in Roxbury's Dudley Square, set to become the new Boston Public Schools headquarters. "Tom Menino has been the mayor of the neighborhoods, and one of his big priorities — and soon to be his achievement — is revitalizing Dudley Square with the infusion of several thousands of municipal workers," he said. "It's his vision, it's his achievement and it should bear his name."

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NKorean propaganda mill serves up soft side of Kim

SEOUL, South Korea — The outside world focuses on the messages of doom and gloom from North Korea: bombastic threats of nuclear war, fantasy videos of U.S. cities in flames, digitally altered photos of leader Kim Jong Un guiding military drills. But back home, North Koreans get a decidedly softer dose of propaganda: Kim portrayed as a young, energetic leader, a people person and family man.

Mixed in with the images showing Kim aboard a speeding boat on a tour of front-line islands, or handing out commemorative rifles to smartly saluting soldiers, are those of Kim and his wife clapping at a dolphin show or linking arms with weeping North Korean children.

The pictures can look odd or obviously staged to outsiders. But they're carefully crafted propaganda meant to give North Koreans an image of a country governed by a leader who is as comfortable overseeing a powerful military as he is mingling with the people.

Analysts say the images also hint at something that often gets lost amid the threatening rhetoric: North Korea's supreme commander isn't an all-powerful, isolated monarch who can govern without considering his people's approval. Kim is still busy building his reputation at home.

"Even dictatorships respond to public opinion and public pressure," said John Delury, a North Korea analyst at Seoul's Yonsei University. "He's expected to pay attention to and make improvements in the common people's standard of living. They've put that promise out in their domestic propaganda."

It's a tall order. Living standards in Pyongyang, the capital, are relatively high, with new shops and restaurants catering to a growing middle class. But U.N. officials' reports detail harsh conditions elsewhere in North Korea: up to 200,000 people estimated to be languishing in political prison camps, and two-thirds of the country's 24 million people facing regular food shortages.

When it comes to North Korean propaganda, much of the world focuses on the series of outlandish videos uploaded to the country's YouTube channel and government website, largely for foreign consumption. In one fantasy, missiles rain down on a burning American city while an instrumental version of "We Are the World" plays in the background. In another, President Barack Obama and U.S. troops burn.

But what most North Koreans see on state TV is a different propaganda message: Kim Jong Un bending down to receive flowers from children, Kim visiting families living in rustic homes on front-line islands, Kim mobbed by gushing female soldiers.

As with any propaganda or PR, the images are carefully staged. And many make foreign news headlines only when experts and photo editors discover that North Korea is digitally altering them. For instance, in a picture distributed recently by state media, troops and hovercraft land on a barren, snow-dappled beach. Experts say some of the multiple hovercraft have been copied and pasted into the image.

But North Korea's propaganda makers aren't concerned about the criticism abroad to their heavy-handed photo editing. "These efforts are aimed more at an unsophisticated domestic peasant audience than those of us who are more discerning," said Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum CSIS think tank in Hawaii.

The caring domestic persona being built for Kim by his image specialists is aided by his wife, Ri Sol Ju.

She is young and glamorous, a chic and smiling presence at his side in many of the country's propaganda images. The couple is often photographed at amusement parks, nurseries, factory tours and concerts.

"It's a more complex kind of image he has as a leader," Delury said. "The basis of his legitimacy domestically has to do with these other, non-military things."

The propaganda machine in North Korea also worked to build up a caring image for Kim's father, the late Kim Jong Il. He doggedly appeared at tours of factories, farms and military posts. But while Kim Jong Un puts his wife front and center and is a relaxed presence on camera, his father was stiff in photos and secretive about his family life.

North Korea takes pains to select and sometimes alter photos so its leaders appear in the best light possible, said Seo Jeong-nam, a North Korean propaganda expert at Keimyung University in South Korea.

For example, past propaganda specialists were careful not to pick photos that showed the large lump on the back of the neck of Kim's grandfather, North Korean President Kim Il Sung, Seo said. When Kim Jong Il was alive, North Korean photographers tried to make him look taller in photos than he actually was, often positioning him slightly in front of others, Seo said.

As for Kim Jong Un, Seo said North Korea's propaganda mill chooses photos that show off his strong resemblance to his grandfather, who still is depicted on state TV as the loving father of the nation, surrounded by children and adoring citizens.

___

Associated Press writer Sam Kim contributed to this story. Follow Klug at www.twitter.com/APKlug and Kim at www.twitter.com/samkim_ap.

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Wal-Mart mulls letting customers deliver packages

Wal-Mart's race against Amazon.com for speedier shipping is making it consider asking customers to deliver packages to online buyers.

Shoppers at the world's largest retailer could sign up to drop off packages for online customers who live on their route back home, Joel Anderson, chief executive of Walmart.com in the U.S., said in a recent interview with Reuters.

Wal-Mart, in turn, would offer a discount on the deliverer's shopping bill to cover the cost of gas, Anderson said.

"This is at the brain-storming stage," said Jeff McAllister, senior vice president of Walmart U.S. innovations, "but it's possible in a year or two."

Yesterday, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman downplayed the idea, calling it "just a casual mention."

"There are no plans to roll this out," Ashley Hardie said. "No work has been done to explore it as an option."

Michael Tesler, a retail consultant at Norwell's Retail Concepts, said the idea sounds "a little green and sustainable" but "rife with danger."

"There are a lot of challenges that would make it difficult, including insurance and liability," Tesler said. "What happens if a customer has an accident making a delivery?"

Theft, he added, would also be a possibility.

A UPS spokeswoman, who asked not to be identified, said, "Wal-Mart is a great customer of ours, and we'll definitely be watching to see how this plays out."

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City employees can benefit from tax laws

Tax season is upon us, and the Herald's TaxSmart experts are here every Friday to help.

Today, Joy Child of Alexander, Aronson, Finning & Co. discusses potential tax benefits for city employees.

I am a teacher in the Boston Public Schools system. Are there any special tax benefits that teachers need to look for? Also, my husband is a fireman and pays into the city's retirement system. Is there anything he needs to look out for?

There are several benefits that teachers and other town, city or state employees may overlook. The contributions to the various Massachusetts retirement systems are deductible on the Massachusetts return, up to $2,000. Although teachers do not pay into Social Security, they are entitled to the same deduction as people who do pay into Social Security. In addition, teachers hired after 1986 pay into the Medicare system, so this is deductible as well.

However, if a teacher is full-time, usually the Massachusetts retirement contribution is more than the maximum $2,000 deduction, anyway. Because tax software may not always recognize that Massachusetts retirement contributions are similar to Social Security contributions, teachers need to make sure they get this deduction, which will usually max out at the $2,000 level.

In addition, federal wages are different from state wages for an employee who contributes to a Massachusetts retirement system. The federal government allows the wages to be reduced by the entire contribution to Massachusetts retirement, not just the $2,000 deduction that Massachusetts allows. So if your W-2 shows a difference between the federal wages and the state wages, be sure to use the appropriate amount on each return.

Teachers also may deduct as a direct adjustment to their income up to $250 of the money they spend for school supplies. In these difficult economic times for school systems, teachers often have to spend quite a bit on supplies for their classroom. They should be sure to keep the receipts.

Email your tax questions to bizsmart@bostonherald.com

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Tax credits vital to conversions

Affordable housing is crucial to society because it ensures that families with limited economic means have a place to live.

Either new structures can be built or older buildings can be renovated to increase the affordable housing stock.

"Preserving and restoring historic buildings has the potential to breathe life into local communities and their economies," said Larry Curtis, president and managing partner of WinnDevelopment, which is one of the nation's largest developers of large-scale, mixed-use and mixed-income projects, including the Oliver Lofts on Mission Hill and the The Apartments at Boott Mill in Lowell.

Historic tax credits, from both the state and federal governments, can be an integral part of the financing for real estate redevelopment and re-use projects. These subsidies have helped developers revitalize older downtown areas and urban neighborhoods. These projects have provided construction jobs and affordable rental housing for low-income families and seniors since 1976.

"The revitalization of historic buildings into housing typically has significant construction cost premiums and the historic tax credits directly address that and make it possible to create reasonably priced affordable housing," said Bart Mitchell, president and CEO of The Community Builders, the country's largest nonprofit developer of mixed-income housing. Its local projects include the Franklin School Apartments in Lexington and the Central Grammar School in Gloucester.

Making older buildings wheelchair-accessible can be particularly costly, he said.

"Especially buildings such as schools were built as a monumental structure on top of a huge staircase and are not accessible. (It's necessary to) add elevators and such," Mitchell added.

There may also be costly environmental cleanup issues, because renovating older buildings may require asbestos or lead paint removal.

Additionally, when laying out a building for a completely different use, the developer may want to preserve some of the historic features, but may face the costly challenge of coming up with spaces for bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms.

"Preserving the high ceilings and large windows is important and creates interesting interiors within the housing units," Curtis said.

Of course, there are benefits to rehabbing existing buildings.

"When re-using an old building, no one is wondering what the building is going to look like. Sometimes the approval process can be easier," Mitchell said.

The historic credits also can help contribute to a cleaner environment, according to developers.

"The 'greenest' thing you can do is re-use an existing building," Mitchell said. "If you don't re-use an existing building, think about all of the diesel exhaust and landfill that's used in the demolition of the old building, then all of the transportation, manufacturing and assembly for the new building."

Older buildings that were built with thick masonry walls can be extremely efficient to heat, especially once a modern roof and windows are added.

Oliver Lofts, located on Mission Hill, is the only midrise, multifamily building in the city to earn Platinum LEED certification for its environmental friendliness, and one of only two historic renovations in the nation to win that distinction after being converted to mixed-income housing. The 19th century building, recently renovated after being vacant for 30 years, is now a mixed-income housing community consisting of 62 apartments.

Jennifer Athas is a licensed real estate broker and can be reached by email at heraldhotproperty@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter,
@JenAthas.

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Cyprus sends rumbles through shaky banking system

FRANKFURT, Germany — This week's deal to rescue Cyprus and its banks from financial collapse has renewed fears about Europe's shaky financial system and where trouble might next appear.

Many banks across Europe have been struggling for more than three years as losses on government bonds and bad loans piled up. Some governments, meanwhile, have taken on more debt trying to prop up their lenders to the point where they have needed bailing out themselves.

In Cyprus's case, its banking sector became much bigger than the country's government could afford to rescue — seven times the size of the country's economy. When the banks were hit by large losses and Cyprus could not afford to bail it out on its own, the country turned to the other 16 European Union countries that use the euro.

Rather than making Europe's taxpayers foot the entire bill for bad banking, Cyprus and the other eurozone countries agreed to make the banks' bondholders and big depositors contribute to the rescue. One bank, Laiki, is to be split up, with its nonperforming loans and toxic assets going into a "bad bank." The healthy side will be absorbed into the Bank of Cyprus. Savers with more 100,000 euros in both Bank of Cyprus and Laiki will face big losses — possibly as much as 80 cents on the euro.

Daniel Gros, director of the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, said the Cyprus deal "could be a strategic change."

Depositors and investors have taken note of the Cyprus deal and are warily looking around at other countries where the financial sector appears too big or too unstable. The STOXX Europe 600 Banks index have fallen 7 percent since a first bailout deal, later rejected, was reached March 16.

Even some of the more financially disciplined countries in the eurozone can raise concerns: The Netherlands had to take over SNS Reaal, the country's fourth-largest bank, after it suffered heavy losses. And in Germany there are banks under pressure from competition and losses on bad loans.

Here is a look at some countries whose banking sectors are gaining scrutiny in the aftermath of the Cyprus bailout.

SLOVENIA: Privately owned banks are suffering from a burst real estate bubble and unpaid property loans. The country — which is only 0.4 percent of the eurozone's overall economy — has a relatively small banking system and has relied on successful exporters such as home appliance maker Gorenje. But the banks' troubles are large enough that the government has struggled to borrow to finance its deficits and some think it might eventually seek a bailout loan from other eurozone countries.

The new government of Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek is moving to set up a "bad bank" to take shaky loans and investments off banks' hands. Analysts at Commerzbank say depositors will not suffer losses in any bank restructuring because the system only needs a billion euros in new capital for this year. Cyprus, which is half the size of Slovenia, needed up to 8 billion euros to help rescue its banks.

Fitch Ratings said last week it didn't think Slovenia, which is in a recession, would need a bailout. But the agency warned that the quality of the banks' assets and the capital buffers needed to protect them from future financial shocks are deteriorating.

MALTA: Like Cyprus, Malta is a small island country with a big banking system — eight times annual GDP. Its banks have not suffered the huge losses on government bonds that brought down Cyprus' banks. But last year the IMF warned that the size of Malta's banking sector and its interconnectedness to the rest of the eurozone raised the potential for trouble to spread from elsewhere. It told Malta, whose economy has so far avoided a recession, to strengthen deposit insurance guarantees and push banks to strengthen their finances.

The head of the central bank has said that comparisons to Cyprus are misleading. The country is 0.07 percent of the eurozone's economy, with only about 6.7 billion euros of GDP.

LUXEMBOURG: The small, wealthy country's banking system is more than 20 times the size of the economy. Economist Gros says it's completely different from Cyprus, since the banks are subsidiaries of foreign banks, whose parent companies could take any losses. So far the banking sector seems calm.

The terms of the Cyprus bailout could give Luxembourg cause for concern, however. Germany insisted that as part of the rescue, Cyprus should shrink its banking system to the EU average — about 3 ½ times GDP — and abandon its business model of seeking prosperity as a financial center for foreign savers and investors. Luxembourg, which accounts for 0.4 percent of the eurozone, has followed a similar business model to Cyprus.

The country's government has taken exception to the idea, saying it was concerned about "general assessments of the size of the financial sector and the alleged risks this poses." The financial sector is a key pillar of the economy, accounting for 27 percent of GDP.

SPAIN: The country's banks have been struggling under toxic property loans and assets since Spain's property bubble collapsed in 2008. The level of bad debt in the country's banks hit almost 11 percent in January — some 170.7 billion euros ($220.9 billion) in the first month of the year, up from 167.5 billion euros the previous month. The toxic loans have been transferred to the country's bad bank, which was set up as a condition for Spain receiving 40 billion euros in European Union assistance for its financial sector last year. Spain is the No. 4 country in the eurozone, with about 12 percent of the collective economy.

The Cyprus deal has led to speculation that depositors there might head for the exits if the country moves toward a bailout. But that hasn't happened so far. The financial system appears more stable since the European Central Bank offered to help with a country's borrowing costs by buying up unlimited amounts of short-term government debt if necessary.

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The Ticker

Airline merger approved

AMR Corp., the bankrupt parent of American Airlines, has received court approval to merge with US Airways Group Inc. and create the world's largest airline.

But one clause in the merger agreement, a nearly $20 million severance package for AMR's outgoing CEO Tom Horton, was not approved by a judge at a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.

SF tower aims high

Boston Properties and Hines have broken ground on the Transbay Tower in San Francisco, which will be the nation's seventh largest tower at 1,070 feet tall. The building will consist of 60 levels of office space in a 1.4 million square foot complex.

Construction is expected to begin this summer and be completed in 2016.

Lexington co. secures investment

SynapDx Corp. has secured a significant yet undisclosed investment from The Kraft Group that will support the ongoing clinical development of the company's blood-based autism spectrum disorder diagnostic test. The test is designed to help clinicians identify children with autism earlier than they do today.

T-Mobile takes bite of Apple

T-Mobile will become the first major wireless company to sell Apple's popular iPhone 5 without a contract requirement on April 12. Preorders will be accepted starting April 5. T-Mobile will sell the device for $99, plus the monthly cost of using the phone.

TODAY

 The Commerce Department releases fourth-quarter gross domestic product.

TOMORROW

 U.S. stock markets closed for Good Friday.

 The Commerce Department releases personal income and spending for February.

L Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, left, is joining Boston-based CoachUp as a senior advisor on its advisory board. Boston Bruins President Cam Neely is joining the startup's board of directors.

L Atlantic Power has named Edward Hall as executive vice president and chief operating officer. Hall previously served as executive vice president and COO Global Generation at power company AES Corp.

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Groundbreaking set at former Herald site

The Boston Herald's former longtime South End headquarters will be feted next month before crews start demolition for its next life as the "Ink Block," a 471-unit apartment complex anchored by a Whole Foods supermarket.

Newton-based National Development's plans for the April 11 groundbreaking ceremony will include a strong Herald presence.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino will remove a symbolic brick from the building for preservation, and Herald columnist Joe Fitzgerald will share memories of the paper's home base of 54 years before it moved to a more modern newsroom and offices in the Seaport District last year.

Herald publisher and owner Patrick J. Purcell sold the former 6.6-acre Herald site to National Development in 2007 for undisclosed terms. He retained a minority stake in the $200 million redevelopment, which also will include stores and restaurants and link the South End with Chinatown and the rest of the city.

"We're going to start taking the building down," said Ted Tye, managing partner of National Development. "We've been in predemolition now for several months, taking things out of the building."

In 2011, the Herald signed a 10-year lease for its new headquarters on Fargo Street, where it occupies two floors in the rapidly growing South Boston waterfront area.

Purcell said he's excited about the new quarters and how the newspaper has been evolving with both its print and online editions, and through video.

"And I'm really excited about what the development of the former Herald building will mean for the South End community," 
he said.

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