Four Points by Sheraton is accelerating its expansion in Asia Pacific with plans to open six new hotels in the Asia Pacific region this year.

The hotel brand, operated by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. of White Plains, said that the investment will include four hotels in China and its first hotel in Malaysia. The brand’s Asia Pacific portfolio currently includes 21 hotels.

“The strong demand for moderately priced lodging coupled with the increase in domestic travel in many Asian markets is helping to propel the brand’s growth to a level that is expected to rival that of Starwood’s luxury and upper upscale brands,” Miguel Ko, president of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Asia Pacific, said in a written statement.

Four Points by Sheraton has more than 129 hotels in 23 countries.

Citizens Bank recently opened a new supermarket branch inside the West Haverstraw Stop & Shop at 45 S. Route 9W, Samsondale Plaza. The branch is the second Citizens Bank office in West Haverstraw and the bank’s fourth in Rockland County. The bank also operates branches in Spring Valley and Airmont.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. plans to open its first W Hotel in Boston next year, the White Plains-based company said today.

The 235-room luxury inn, to be built in the city’s theater district, will also feature 123 private residences, a restaurant, bar and spa, Starwood said.

Rockland Economic Development Corp., which has offices at 1 Blue Hill Plaza, is moving — but not very far.

Effective Monday, the agency’s new address will be 2 Blue Hill Plaza, 3rd Floor, P.O. Box 1575, Pearl River, NY 10965. The telephone number remains the same: 845-735-7040.

On the web, go to www.redc.org.

ENT and Allergy Associates LLP has expanded its presence on  Long Island with the addition of Pediatric Ear, Nose and Throat Associates in Bayside, Garden City and Bensonhurst.

With the merger, Greenburgh-based ENT and Allergy Associates now has 86 doctors in 28 offices. The practice has doubled in size since 2002.

Schott Solar announced that it will construct a new solar energy technology production plant in Albuquerque, N.M. The plant will manufacture receivers for solar thermal power plants. The company said that it will invest about $100 million in the 200,000 square-foot plant that will employ 350 people. Schott Solar is a subsidiary of Schott North America Inc., an Elmsford-based manufacturer of glass products and systems that is part of a German conglomerate.

Washington Mutual recently opened a new branch at 896 McLean Ave. in Yonkers. It is the bank’s third branch in the city. The Seattle-based company operates 2,500 branches nationally.

Santi Express Inc., a Rockland-based moving company, has moved to larger offices at 616 Corporate Way in Valley Cottage.

At 6,500 square feet, the new space is about twice as large as the company’s former Suffern offices, the company said.

Santi Express, founded 32 years ago by President Sheryl Santi-Luks, employs about a dozen workers and serves the eastern half of the United States.

Hudson Valley Bank has opened a branch in Stamford, Conn., at 1055 Summer St., the Yonkers-based banker said today.

Further, the bank said it expects construction of a new Mamaroneck branch to be completed in April.

For the last two months, Hudson Valley Bank has been operating a temporary site at 875 Mamaroneck Ave., until renovations to the permanent site, in the same building, can be completed.

With the additions, Hudson Valley Bank said it now has 24 branches in Westchester County, New City, New York City and Stamford.

Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. of Somers will expand in western upstate New York through an agreement to buy Pepsi-Cola Batavia Bottling Corp., a family owned and operated bottler based in Batavia.
The acquisition will expand Pepsi Bottling’s territory to Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties along with parts of Livingston, Alleghany and Cattaraugus counties.
Pepsi Bottling is already the world’s largest manufacturer, seller and distributor of Pepsi-Cola beverages, with annual sales of nearly $13 billion and more than 70,000 employees worldwide.
In addition to U.S. plants, Pepsi Bottling has operations in Canada, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Turkey and Greece.
Pepsi-Cola Batavia, founded in 1890, has been owned by Thomas and John Houseknecht. Financial details of the transaction were not revealed. The deal is expected to close next year during the first quarter.
“We are very pleased to expand our footprint in upstate New York,” Eric Foss, Pepsi Bottling’s chief executive officer, said in a written statement. “The Houseknecht family has built a strong business through a combination of superb customer service, desirable product offerings, and active community involvement.â€?

ITT Corp. has opened a technology center in India, marking the company’s first site in the fast growing country. ITT’s center in Vadodara along India’s western coast will specialize in water and other fluid transport technology areas that are key product lines for the White Plains-based conglomerate.
“The new India technology center is a centerpiece of ITT’s emerging markets strategy,” Brenda Reichelderfer, chief technology officer of ITT, said in written statement. “In India, we can take advantage of a large pool of experienced engineers to create a product design resource focused on meeting the needs of local customers, while adding unique skills and depth to ITT’s global engineering capability.”
Reichelderfer said that about eight percent of the company’s product development engineers work in Asia to serve customers in emerging markets, including China, India and the Middle East. By the end of the year, ITT also expects to finish building a manufacturing and assembly plant in the Gujarat region of India to make products for its fluid technology business. The number of ITT employees in India was not immediately available.

White Plains-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. plans to open the second Element hotel in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The hotel giant has an agreement with an affiliate of The Buccini/Pollin Group to open the hotel at the Dulles Parkway Center in Dulles, Va., in February 2010. Element Dulles North will incorporate ecologically friendly materials, including carpets made from 100 percent recycled materials and low toxicity paint, to improve indoor air quality. The 123-room hotel will include complete kitchens in all the rooms as well as oversized spa showers.

People’s United Bank will open its second Westchester County at 14 S. Moger Ave. in Mount Kisco on Monday.

The Mount Kisco office is the second of 15 branches in Westchester the bank plans to open by the end of 2009, said People’s United, which is based in Bridgeport, Conn.

The company recently agreed to acquire Chittenden Corp., a Vermont banker that has more than 50 branches in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts.

Debt Resolve Inc. said today it is planning on expanding its online products to the French market.

The White Plains-based collection agency and purchaser of delinquent accounts said it will be working with Invest in France Agency North America, an organization that promotes foreign investment in France, for support and assistance regarding location surveys, governmental regulations, and legal and tax advice.

France, the world’s fifth-largest economy, is second only to United Kingdom in European credit-card volume and spending and consumer debt, Debt Resolve said. Recent studies show pressure is mounting to initiate actions to fight against the rapid rise in French consumer debt, the company said.

The announcement follows one earlier this week in which Debt Resolve said it had taken in $1.3 billion during the third quarter.

In addition, Debt Resolve said that existing clients, which include a “top-10 U.S. bank,� are “moving from pilot phase into revenue production.�

New York University Stern School of Business is celebrating the first anniversary of offering its Langone part-time MBA degree program in Westchester.

In recognition, NYU today unveiled renovated classrooms on the Purchase College campus that offer students the same high-tech gadgetry that those attending NYU’s Washington Square campus in Manhattan are familiar with.

Those include electronic taping and archiving of classes that allow students such as Ravi Mundhe to catch classes he might otherwise miss.

For Mundhe, 35 and a married father of two who lives in White Plains, that means he can watch from home lectures taped earlier that same evening shortly after he’s put his kids to bed.

It’s a “superb way� for working parents to maximize what little time they have,� said Mundhe, who customizes software for the Danbury, Conn. offices of Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, a German pharmaceutical company.

Though Mundhe could have opted for an online degree program, he said he likes the human interaction that traditional programs still offer. Having the Stern school offer its classes in Purchase means he’s able to take advantage of that without commuting to New York City.

“I couldn’t imagine trying to go down to the Manhattan campus two or three times a week for a couple of years,� he said.

Stern has enrolled 152 students in the program since its start in Purchase last year, said Dean Thomas F. Cooley, and expects to enroll more as awareness of the program grows.

Cooley said Stern’s decision to return to the Westchester market after an absence of several years was a very strategic one.

The program was redesigned and rethought, he said. “When we decided to go back to Westchester, there was a question of what exactly we wanted to do there and … of putting our best foot forward and doing everything right from the beginning.â€?

The new classroom upgrades exemplify that commitment, he said.

“So now we’re really in a position to project our best image and to be fully linked to the (Manhattan) campus.”

Universal American Financial Corp. of Rye Brook said yesterday that it will expand its Medicare Advantage private fee-for-service insurance program to 47 states in 2008, up from 35 states in 2007.

Arcadian Networks, a Valhalla-based broadband wireless carrier for energy companies, announced that it has opened a Washington, D.C. office and appointed Mark Maddox as senior vice president of government affairs.

From his office in the nation’s capital, Maddox will lead state and federal government regulation activities related to Smart Grid initiatives, which are designed to make the energy grid more efficient by introducing new technologies and policies. He will also serve as a liaison with government groups and trade associations and will serve as an advocate for increased wireless broadband technology in the utility industry, Arcadian said.

During his 25-year career, Maddox has held positions with the U.S. Department of Energy, including acting assistant secretary of fossil energy. Most recently, he served as counsel to the Livingston Group, a Washington lobbying firm in the fields of energy and the environment, international relations, and science technology and telecommunications.

Shleppers Moving & Storage, a residential and commercial moving company based in Elmsford, recently acquired Elmsford-based Royal Moving Systems, Inc., a full service residential and commercial moving company, and Miracle Moving, a high-end company based in New York City.

Allen Golan, who was president of Royal, was named chief operating officer of Shleppers, and Nissim Knafo, founder and former chief executive officer of Miracle, is now senior relocation consultant.

“Royal’s systematic approach to organization and transportation and its strong customer focus will enable our expanded company to offer a broader range of moving services to the Westchester market,� said Shleppers President Louisa Benjamin-Bohm, a Harrison resident who founded the company in 1978. “Miracle adds expertise in white glove and intricate moves for design professionals.�

Fortistar LLC, based in White Plains, announced that it has acquired Minnesota Methane LLC and United Gasco LLC from TD Banknorth NA. The portfolio includes 15 landfill gas-to-energy projects located mainly in California, the Midwest and the Northeast. The price of the transaction was not disclosed.

Fortistar takes landfill gas, which is methane, and converts it to electricity or heating gas. Fortistar Methane Group now owns 43 facilities with 210 megawatts of generating capacity and four facilities that sell landfill gas to commercial customers for building heat. It has plans to complete $100 million of expansions over the next several years, the company said. Its other holdings include Gas Recovery Systems LLC, Gas Recovery Services of Illinois LLC and other natural gas and bio-mass generating facilities in New York and California.

“We are committed to being the premier company in the landfill gas-to-energy industry,� Fortistar Methane Group President Tom Gesicki said in a written statement.

The owners of Scarsdale Eyecare in Scarsdale are opening a new full-service optical store called Eye Gallery of Chappaqua in the village’s downtown at the end of August.