The Abbot, a four-story block of retail, offices and restaurants due to open early next year in the heart of Harvard Square, is already signing leases – including one that brought groans from Historical Commission members.

A conversation about freezing the addition of offices or labs near Alewife was cut short Monday, but not before it was revealed that a company called Healthpeak planned to spend an additional $225 million in the area for a total $616 million since August and $949 million within around two years.

Another acre was added Tuesday to the Alewife area holdings of a Denver company called Healthpeak – the 19th parcel the firm has picked up north of Fresh Pond since August for a total $391 million. Some city councillors want zoning in place before labs and offices are debated for the land.

Twelve acres owned by Cabot, Cabot & Forbes in the Cambridge Highlands just sold for $120 million to a Denver firm called Healthpeak Properties, part of $193 million the company has spent in Cambridge in a month.

A bid to keep working into the night constructing the 40 Thorndike office tower project in East Cambridge was rejected unanimously Thursday by license commissioners, who didn’t see the hardship demanded for the variance.

Past debates over setting “linkage” fees for commercial development have divided the City Council into factions who want to push the limits and those who fear scaring off the builders who pay those fees. These was no hint of division as councillors talked about a 66 percent increase.

The developers of 40 Thorndike, the office tower project that led to years of neighborhood and political conflict in East Cambridge, issued a progress report Wednesday, including that interior demolition and abatement for mold and asbestos is near completion.

Developer Boston Properties plans to build 465 dwelling units at its 135 Broadway tower in Kendall Square, up from 425, HubSpot has terminated its lease for digs nearby in East Cambridge and there’s much more going on in local real estate and development.

Ads offering space to businesses in East Cambridge’s Foundry community building begin rolling out next week, but not every company will find the offerings ideal despite an address close to Kendall Square.

The sale of the 17-story office tower at 1 Memorial Drive, Kendall Square, is being called the biggest of its kind so far in 2021, but think of the three-story building going for $35.5 million. MIT has broken ground on a college of computing, too, and more apartments are going up near Union Square.