Downtown : Buzz

Restaurant company Landry's says it is buying McCormick & Schmick's in a $130 million deal, according to an AP story in Business Week.

Based in Portland, Ore., McCormick & Schmick's operates two downtown Baltimore restaurants and another one in Annapolis. Landry's operates Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., which is opening a restaurant in the Light Street pavilion at Harborplace mall. You can read more about it here.

This article from Bloomberg Businessweek highlighted events in Baltimore's "Occupy" movement, and the community encampment near the Inner Harbor. The article quotes the mayor's office and Occupy Baltimore participants. Read the entire post here.

Julie Scharper and Justin Fenton at the Baltimore Sun take a deep, engaging, well-reported dive behind the scenes into the Baltimore Grand Prix and how one man's idea eventually became a reality.

From the story:

With the drop of the green flag in three weeks, Wehner's dream will roar to life.

Glossy race cars are set to dart down newly paved roads alongside the Inner Harbor, bearing on their sleek frames the aspirations of city and state officials who are betting on the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix to draw tens of thousands of race fans, pump tens of millions of dollars into the local economy and burnish the image of the city.


Read the whole thing here.

A report from CoStar Group indicates a slight increase in Baltimore area office vacancies in the first quarter of 2011.

From the report:

"The office vacancy rate in the Baltimore market area increased to 13.5% at the end of the first quarter 2011. The vacancy rate was 13.4% at the end of the fourth quarter 2010, 13.5% at the end of the third quarter 2010, and 13.4% at the end of the second quarter 2010."

Read more.

Travelers to Baltimore usually had to choose between a bed and breakfast or a large chain hotel, according to the New York Times.

Now, tourists can stay at the Hotel Monaco, the boutique downtown Charles Street property that opened last year. The New York Times featured the Monaco in its Maryland travel guide.

"The cavernous entrance features grand Tiffany stained-glass windows and a sweeping marble staircase that's been carefully preserved," the Times reports.

You can read the rest of the story here.

Baltimore's Inner Harbor continues to be a shining example of what city government and private enterprise can accomplish when they come together. This Buffalo TV Station takes a look at Bmore's crowning jewel to see what they can do with their city's harbor area.

Here's an excerpt:

"Baltimore's waterfront is living it up, while Buffalo's lingers in limbo. So how come other cities can make a success of these prime pieces of property?

News 4 went to "America's Comeback City" to check it out.

"This was still all industrial pier," said Downtown Partnership of Baltimore's Mike Evitz.

From the 1970's, to today.

"It was just bare land," said President & CEO of Maryland Science Center Van Reiner.

Baltimore's Inner Harbor has a whole new look. It's no bigger in size than Buffalo's Inner Harbor and Erie Basin Marina, but more than a hundred shops and restaurants have sprouted up here in the past 30 years."

Read the entire story.

Synergy can be a really good thing bringing together two seemingly disparate partners, Emily's Desserts and Pizzaz Tuscan Grille. Especially when the results are Baltimore's first wine and cupcake bar.

Here's the deal.

It's been 10 years since Grammy award-winning singer Sade has gone on tour. But when she does this summer, the 51-year-old artist will stop first in Baltimore's First Mariner Arena.

"Music industry experts say that the fact that Ms. Adu hasn't toured the U.S. in some time will work in her favor," writes the Wall Street Journal.

"'Her core fans have not seen her in at least a decade,'" Pollstar Editor Gary Bongiovanni tells the newspaper.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Finally! We know our city is top-notch, but it often takes a backseat with travelers who head to D.C. instead. Well, the truth is out that Baltimore is the No. 1 underrated city for travelers.

Here's an excerpt:

"Native blue crabs seasoned with Old Bay are reason enough to visit Baltimore, but there's much more to experience in this waterfront town. Take, for example, this underrated city's revitalized Inner Harbor area, where you'll find Kimpton's Hotel Monaco; the upscale neighborhood of Mount Vernon, home to the nation's first large-scale Washington Monument and the..."

See the slideshow here.

If you've been to the B&O American Brasserie at the Klimpton's Hotel Monaco, then you know how good the eating is there. You're in good company it seems, as Bon Appetit magazine has included one of the restaurant's flatbreads in it's September 2010 "Restaurant Issue."

Here's an excerpt:

" B&O's menu offers everything from juicy steaks to local seafood, but our money's on the brick-oven pizzas (or flatbreads, as they're called at the restaurant). Savor the arugula, asparagus, and fried egg version while taking in the scene at the restaurant's downstairs bar."

Check out the recipe here.

It's easy when you live in a city to overlook what makes it a great place for tourists. With the long Labor Day weekend approaching, here're two lists of places to see and restaurants to eat in around Baltimore.

Here's an excerpt:

From the Washingtonian, "It's a city of interesting neighborhoods, and here are good ones to explore�whether you like history, antiques, science, or sports."

Read the entire article here.

From The Wall Street Journal, "What to do: Historically, tourists skipped over Baltimore for Washington, D.C., its neighbor less than an hour's drive south. But this harbor city on the Chesapeake Bay is worth a visit. Baltimore has been home to curmudgeons ranging from the acerbic journalist H.L. Mencken, who died in 1956, to filmmaker John Waters, who made "Hairspray." More recently, it gained prominence as the setting for the critically acclaimed HBO crime program "The Wire." While some Baltimore neighborhoods exemplify the blight portrayed in the television series, which ran from 2002 to 2008, other parts of the city are distinctly graceful, with historic brick and brownstone houses lending visual appeal."

Read the entire article here.

Ahoy ye maties, the Pirate Ship isn't only for the kiddies. The Inner Harbor attraction hosts nighttime cruises for adults eager to release their inner pirate over shots of rum and the occasional cry, "argghhh!"

Here's an excerpt:

"The Fearless, a 52-foot replica pirate boat that fits up to 49 passengers, is crewed by pirates and features water cannons, a deck that doubles as a dance floor and a bathroom, which we're pretty sure wasn't available on pirate ships of old. Pirate flags flap in the harbor breeze (accompanied by an American flag), and the wooden ship looks quite realistic. As soon as you step onboard, you must don a pirate vest and sash, which can be worn around your head or waist and, as you'll discover by the end of the night, a variety of other unexpected ways. You're also given a pirate name and a (temporary) pirate-themed tattoo.

Passengers are welcome to bring any kind of beverage..."

Read the entire article here.

Living in Baltimore, it's easy to see that the arts play a huge role in the city. As with eveyrthing that's created here our artists do it with a flair found only in Charm City. The Washington Post captures the style in a series of articles focusing on everything from art to theater.

Here's an excerpt:

"Baltimore brews its own arts scene, with a taste of what America was and what it will be."

Read the entire series of articles here.

Last week, The Baltimore Sun ran a couple of pieces on the city's proposal to create a so-called arts district in West Baltimore.

Here's an excerpt from articles for and against the project:

"City officials backed by Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake are to be applauded for moving ahead with plans to create a new arts and entertainment district on Baltimore's West Side near downtown. The area has been pegged for redevelopment as a cultural hub for more than a decade, but the pace of change has been disappointing. Anything that helps jump-start the process is all to the good.

One might well ask why the area even needs a formal designation as an arts and entertainment district, given the ambitious renovation of the Hippodrome Theatre (which re-opened on the west side in 2003) and the imminent arrival there of the Everyman Theatre Company. Isn't it already on a path to becoming the cultural magnet its backers originally envisioned?"

Read the entire article here.

"A proposal endorsed by Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake would make the city's west side into an arts district, which the administration hopes will help turn around the ailing neighborhood.

This is not the solution. Why? Baltimore already has two arts districts -- Highlandtown/Patterson Park and Station North. It doesn't need a third.

The city declared Highlandtown/Patterson Park an arts district in 2003. That same year, the Creative Alliance at the Patterson (pictured), a mixed use arts/performance space, opened. Offering art exhibits and cutting edge performances, the Creative Alliance was supposed to be the cultural anchor for an arts renaissance in Highlandtown.

Nearly seven years later, Highlandtown/Patterson Park hasn't seen a sliver of the artistic explosion and revitalization that was supposed to happen. Aside from the Creative Alliance and the Southeast Anchor Library, Highlandtown/Patterson Park doesn't have much more in the way of arts than it did in 2003."

Read the entire post here. And now tell us what you think...

Spurred on by both the growing local sustainability movement and the current economic downturn, home gardens have been springing up all across the country. However, new gardeners find growing their own produce is not as easy as it may seem.

"First-timers typically overlook fundamentals like light, good soil, planting time and proper spacing between plants. Also, "a lot of young people are kind of curious but don't know the time commitment," says Jon Traunfeld, a senior agent with the University of Maryland's Extension service, which assists gardeners in communities statewide. Mr. Traunfeld, who specializes in fruits and vegetables, says the service was hammered with questions, logging in 1,963 phone calls and emails last year, up 47% from the year before.

The city of Baltimore replaced its flower beds in front of city hall with vegetables last year. The goal, says designer Angela Treadwell-Palmer, was to show that vegetable gardens could be attractive and to grow harvests to donate to a local soup kitchen. But the local charity reported that some crops�particularly beets, kohlrabi and eggplant�weren't appetizing to people.

So this year, Ms. Treadwell-Palmer is redesigning the garden to grow bigger yields of fewer crops like cabbage, kale and collard greens. The garden will also have a less-fussy, more minimalist look. And in the spring, at least, not all the beds will be vegetable plots, leaving room for some tulips�and more time for gardeners to breathe. "It was hard work," she says."

Read the entire article here.