Baltimore Jobs : Development News

BangBang Mongolian Grill, a create-your-own stir-fry restaurant that touts its heart-healthy fare, will open Valentine's Day in   Canton's Can Co. building.

Midwestern snowstorms delayed the shipping of equipment for the 4,000-square-foot restaurant, pushing the expected opening from last fall until now, says Dr. Shawn Dhillon managing partner for the restaurant. Additionally, the restaurant didn't want to hasten their building process to compromise quality, says Dhillon.
 
Bangbang Mongolian Grill replaces the former Austin Grill, which closed over a year ago at The Can Company.
 
Additionally, the restaurant plans to employ 45 to 50 people on its staff from workers in the kitchen to managers. The majority of the hiring has been completed, says Dhillon.
 
Dhillon expects the second Mongolian Grill to open in early March at 15752 Annapolis Rd. in Bowie.
 
Along with his partners, Dhillon plans to open an additional four grills and is currently scouting locations in Annapolis, Washington, and Virginia.
 
The format of the restaurant allows patrons select from their choice of chicken, beef, pork, seafood, and vegetables with choices of spices and sauces making for a meal that Dhillon believes is healthy and balanced.

Writer: Alexandra Wilding
Source: Dr. Shawn Dillon, BangBang Mongolian Grill

Ernestine Brown is on a mission to help women look their best without having to break the bank.
 
Brown opened Sister Ernie B's Sassy Seconds, a consignment shop in the Belair-Edison neighborhood this month to provide an alternative destination for women who want to look good while on a budget.
 
"It's hard to go out to our favorite stores, Macy's, Nordstrom, so we're being wiser with our spending. But it doesn't change the fact that we like to look good," says Brown.
 
In addition to a consignment shop, Sister Ernie B's Sassy Seconds is a women's handbag and accessory boutique.
 
Brown hopes to woo savvy, working women with her shop at 3428 Belair Rd., in the Belair-Edison Main Street district.
 
"I'm excited because Belair Road is a busy main street in the city and we have a little something for everyone with a price base that everyone can afford," Brown says.
 
The shop is currently seeking consigned items for a period of 90 days. If the clothing sells, the price is split evenly between the consigner and the store. Items that do not sell can be returned or donated to the women's recovery house that Brown runs, Sister to Sister, Heart to Hrt. 
 
Additionally, Brown plans to use the consignment shop as a training opportunity for some of the women involved in the recovery house to reestablish job skills.
 
A Baltimore native, Brown has long shopped at consignment stores around the city, and aspires to educate more people about the value of consignment shops.
 
She sees her business as an extension of her desire to help others change their lives for the better. In time, she also hopes to provide jobs for youth in the neighborhood at the shop in which she invested all of her savings.
 

Writer: Alexandra Wilding
Source: Ernestine Brown, owner of Sister Ernie B's Sassy Seconds

Towson City Center will have some new residents when it opens next year. Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and Caves Valley Partners announced the news that several leases had been signed for the office tower complex on November 1, 2011.
 
Towson University will be moving its College of Health Professions to Towson City Center in 2012. the Towson University outpost will include four clinics: a wellness center, the Speech Language and Hearing Center, the Center for Adults with Autism, and the Occupational Therapy Center. The university radio station is also considering moving to the new complex.
 
Business Suites, a shared office concept for entrepreneurs will also be taking a space in the new Towson City Center. Cunningham Kitchen, a white tablecloth farm-to-table restaurant from the chefs at Sotto Sopra and The Wine Market, will be opening in the complex in 2012 as well. The new tenants will join previously announced Towson City Center tenants Mile One Automotive Group and Cave Valley Partners.
 
Towson City Center is a redevelopment project. The transformation of the old Investment Building in central Towson into a new, modern LEED certified business center began in May. The building formerly housed an assortment of state and county offices and has been vacant since its closure in 2001. The facade of the building has been completely refurbished, and the cost of the redevelopment project is expected to come in at $27 million.
 
Writer: Amy McNeal
Source: Baltimore County, Towson University College of Health Professions

After six years of construction, Johns Hopkins Hospital's massive $1 billion-plus expansion will be completed in November and open its doors in April.

Hiring has begun hiring for the nearly 700 workers, largely nurses and other clinicians, needed to staff the new hospital, says Ted Chambers, administrator for the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

The 1.6 million-square-foot hospital will include two connected 12-story towers: one for cardiovascular and critical care and the other to house a children’s hospital.

The expanded hospital will include more lounge and support areas for families.

“It’s a huge change for us and gives us the ability to serve families in a way we’ve never done before,” Chambers says. “The buildings will be a lot quieter and restful.”

Funding for the twin towers comes primarily from New York Mayor and Johns Hopkins University alum Michael Bloomberg and Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

The new complex will include 560 patient beds—355 for adults and 205 for children.

Other features include:
• 224 adult acute care rooms;
• 96 adult intensive care rooms;
• 35 obstetrics rooms;
• 120 pediatric acute care rooms; and,
• 85 pediatric intensive care rooms.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Ted Chambers, Johns Hopkins Hospital

A nanotechnology company is on the hunt for 10 new employees as it expands its manufacturing capacity.

Pixelligent LLC, which moved from College Park to Baltimore in the spring, is hiring business development and other executive-level staff, engineers, and technicians, CEO Craig Bandes says.

Pixelligent and its partner, Brewer Science Inc., received an $8.2 million award from National Institute of Standards and Technology last year, as well as other government grants and equity financing.

The company, which employs 15, occupies an 11,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in the Holabird Business Park in Southeast Baltimore.

Bandes says the company moved to Baltimore because it has a great pool of qualified employees and is close to the airport and major highways.

“I think it’s going to help us build the company."


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Craig Bandes, Pixelligent

Fans of Phillips Seafood can expect to hear musicians strumming a guitar or hitting the piano keys when its new location opens at Cordish Cos.' Power Plant development.

The 17,000-square-foot restaurant will replace the shuttered ESPNZone and marks a major move for the iconic Maryland restaurant that has anchored Harborplace for 31 years.

The Power Plant location will open late October, says Phillips' Senior Vice President John Knorr.

A crab deck open from April to October will feature live acoustic guitar while the lobby will feature a piano bar. Restaurant executives hope that live music will keep guests longer, Knorr says. Music played on the floating barge will also hopefully draw attention to the restaurant.

Shifting east on the Inner Harbor will put Phillips closer to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the area's top tourist attraction. Both Phillips and the aquarium get a lot of business from families.  

Phillips will hire up to 250 to staff the restaurant, with peak employment in the summer. The location will seat 500, with about 200 outdoors.
Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. will replace Phillips' Harborplace location, set to close at the end of September.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: John Knorr, Phillips

A 275-bed homeless shelter opened this month in Baltimore, part of the city's 10-year plan to end homelessness.

The 30,000-square-foot Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Housing and Resource Center at 620 Fallsway holds a cafeteria, day rooms, job training, and a convalescent care program.

Funding for the $8 million construction comes from the state, city, and foundations, including the Abell Foundation, the France-Merrick Foundation, and the Weinberg Foundation.

The city has set up a website, endinten.org, to outline its 10-year-plan to end homeless, says Kate Briddell, director of homeless service programs for Baltimore City. The plan to try to address the leading causes of homelessness, including lack of affordable housing, unemployment, and access to healthcare services.

Addressing the problem is tough in this economy when many people are out of work, Bridell says.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Kate Bridell, Baltimore City

The Baltimore Museum of Art has chosen Ziger/Snead to design its biggest capital project in its history, a $24 million renovation to be completed in 2014.

A total of 11 architecture firms competed for the project, of which the BMA selected five for its short list. Those firms were Ayers Saint Gross, Design Collective, Inc,. GWWO Inc./Architects, Ziger/Snead, and RTKL Associates Inc.

The BMA chose Ziger/Snead based on its clarity of vision and design and their success in renovating both historic and contemporary buildings. Its projects include the Maryland Institute College of Art Brown Center and the Frederick Douglas-Isaac Myers Maritime Park and Museum.

The BMA renovation is expected to create 185 construction and other jobs.

The renovation will include upgrades to visitor amenities, infrastructure improvements, and better displays of the museum's 90,000 works of art. Two new roofs and a building automation system to improve care of the museum's art are part of the upgrades.

The project will be funded in part by a $10 million multi-year commitment from the state and $2.5 million in bonds from Baltimore City.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Anne Mannix, BMA

Cirque du Soleil will be hiring 150 to 200 folks in Baltimore to help it put on its latest show, "Totem."

Jobs will include ushers, box office attendants, technicians, and supervisors prior to its April 7 debut in Baltimore at the Westport waterfront development, says Alyson Ling, Cirque's ticketing and customer service manager.  

It will take a lot of people to support the 17-day show. It takes 80 people to raise the big top, or Grand Chapiteau, and between seven and 10 days to set up the site. It takes another two-and-a-half days to tear down the 66-foot high tent, Ling says.

It's the fifth time the Montreal-based circus has come to Baltimore. It's last show, "Kooza," sold 60,000 tickets in 2009.
"Totem" traces the journey of the human species from its original amphibian state to its ultimate desire to fly. Baltimore is one of the first cities to host Cirque's newest touring production. "Totem" has played in Montreal, Quebec City, Amsterdam and London. It is currently running in Charlotte.

So how did Cirque choose developer Patrick Turner's Westport development � a $1.2 billion project that will include homes, offices and restaurants at a former industrial site? Its previous Baltimore shows have landed at Harbor East and near M&T Bank Stadium.

Ling says parking, the size of the site, public access and cost all factor into Cirque's decision when selecting a location.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Alyson Ling, Cirque du Soleil

Baltimore City has been awarded $19 million in grants from Living Cities, a collaborative of 22 of the world's largest foundations and financial institutions. The city is one of five chosen as winners in the new Integration Initiative, which supports game-changing innovations that address intractable problems affecting low-income people. The award continues Living Cities' nearly 20-year commitment to Baltimore, which has resulted in millions of dollars for community initiatives.

The Baltimore Integration Partnership focuses on creating job opportunities and improving neighborhoods in Central and East Baltimore, while preparing residents for opportunities created by the construction of the Red Line, a 14-mile east-west transit line. Through the Integration Initiative, Baltimore is eligible for up to $19 million in grants, loans, and Program-Related Investments (PRIs) to support its efforts. PRIs are flexible, low-cost loans provided at below-market rates to support charitable activity.

The Integration Initiative is an effort to leverage the financial investment, influence, and leadership of Living Cities members to create a new framework for solving complex problems. It encourages local leaders to work together to challenge obsolete conventional wisdom, "rewire" the systems that are critical to making our cities places of opportunity for low-income people, and drive the private market to work on behalf of low-income people. The Integration Initiative seeks to institutionalize these changes through a focus on changing local, state and federal policy. The support to Baltimore is part of up to $80 million that will be invested in five metropolitan areas.

As part of its application, Baltimore's public, private, philanthropic and non-profit sectors agreed to work as  partners on the initiative. The Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers coordinated the application. Partners in the effort are the Office of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the Office of Governor Martin O'Malley, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Goldseker Foundation, Baltimore Workforce Funders Collaborative, Associated Black Charities, Baltimore Neighborhood Collaborative, Johns Hopkins University and Medical Institutions, Maryland Institute College of Art, Job Opportunities Task Force, Central Baltimore Partnership, Central Maryland Transportation Alliance, and the East Baltimore Development Inc. The Reinvestment Fund will serve as the financial intermediary, making targeted investments in projects that advance the initiative's goals.

The Baltimore Integration Partnership will build upon the success of Baltimore's Workforce Funders' Collaborative, an effort that has helped launch programs in biotechnology, healthcare and construction, moving thousands of low-income city residents into careers, and the Baltimore Neighborhood Collaborative's efforts to promote transit-centered community development.

"This selection represents a continuation of our relationship with Baltimore," says Living Cities CEO Ben Hecht. "Since 1991, we have invested $23 million in affordable housing and other initiatives in Baltimore, which has been leveraged to a total investment of $108 million. We have also previously invested in green retrofitting initiatives there."

Living Cities resources will help Baltimore create a model for how neighborhood, regional, city, and state economic development and transportation investments can benefit low-income people by driving and/or integrating workforce development, affordable housing and neighborhood amenities. Funding will result in at least 1,200 residents being connected to job pipeline services, 840 of whom will be employed in careers with family-supporting wages; 400 units of mixed-income housing built; and 346,000 square feet of mixed-use commercial space developed.

Source: Living Cities
Writer: Walaika Haskins

The University of Maryland School of Medicine is building a $200 million proton therapy cancer treatment center, the first of its kind in the area to offer a certain type of radiation treatment.

The 100,000-square foot building will be built at the University of Maryland BioPark on the city's west side. The cancer center will break ground in August and faculty members could begin providing treatments as early as 2014. The center will serve 2,000 patients annually.

The medical school's radiation oncology practice plan has signed a letter of intent with Advanced Particle Therapy LLC of Minden, Nev., to create the Maryland Proton Treatment Center LLC. The center will design, own, and operate the center while the University of Maryland faculty will provide clinical management and therapeutic services.

The center will create 435 jobs, including 325 construction jobs and 110 jobs in the life sciences industry. Those jobs include radiation
oncologists, medical physicists, radiation technologists, other medical support personnel, and administrative staff.

Proton therapy uses a proton beam to deliver radiation more precisely to the tumor site than with standard X-ray radiation, resulting in less overall radiation exposure. The treatment is used for many common cancers as well as for some rarer instances of the disease.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: University of Maryland, Baltimore

More than one third of all downtown jobs are held by Baltimore City residents, and the number of employees who earned more than $40,000 per year increased 31 percent from 2004 to 2008.

That is according to a new report from Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc. that assesses downtown's impact on the Baltimore economy.
Officials from the group hope the report's findings will result in city policies that favor downtown.

Downtown Partnership wants city officials to create a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district for downtown, similar to those in Patrick Turner's Westport development, Harbor East, and Clipper Mill. A TIF allows the city to use debt to finance a new development with the expectation that the project will increase tax revenues in the future.

Downtown hotels contribute 89 percent of the city's total hotel tax revenue and downtown residents pay 24 percent of the city's total income taxes, the study shows. Downtown businesses pay $7.6 billion in compensation to employees, while Baltimore City businesses overall pay $19.4 billion per year to their workers, the report says.

The motivation behind the study is to understand how downtown contributes to the city's overall fiscal standing and to remind policy leaders of the importance of investing downtown, says Downtown Partnership President J. Kirby Fowler Jr.

"Baltimore is a very dense area that provides bang for the buck," Fowler says.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Kirby Fowler, Downtown Partnership of Baltimore

Getting designer duds at a discount will be easier for Annapolis residents next year.

Seattle-based Nordstrom is opening a Nordstrom Rack store at Annapolis Harbour Center spring 2011, with plans to hire about 70 to man the store.

The 32,230-square-foot store will be Nordstrom's second shop in Anne Arundel County. It has had a regular department store at Westfield Annapolis since 1994. A second Maryland store will open in Friendship Heights, just outside of Washington, D.C., next spring.

"We wanted to grow our Rack presence in the Greater Baltimore and Washington, D.C., areas," Nordstrom spokesman Colin Johnson says.

The opening of a discount store is not fueled by the sputtering economy, Johnson says. Rather, company leaders talked about growing its Rack presence in markets where Nordstrom has a lot of customers prior to the recession.

The shop will carry adult and shoes clothes, accessories, shoes, bed and bath products and home accents.

The company chose Annapolis Harbor Center because it liked the retail mix at the shopping center, Johnson says. The shops include an Old Navy, Office Depot and Barnes & Noble.

Nordstrom also likes to put its Rack stores close to its full-service department stores and the customers who shop there, Johnson says.

There are currently 76 Nordstrom Racks and 114 full-line Nordstrom stores throughout the country. Rack store merchandise are sold at a discount of between 20 and 70 percent.

"Our customers are anyone who loves fashion and we want to better serve them," Johnson says.

Nordstrom does not break out how much it spends to open each store. Last year, the company invested $360 million to open new stores, remodel existing ones and make technology improvements.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Colin Johnson, Nordstrom

Beehive Baltimore, a nine-month old community for freelancers and entrepreneurs, is moving into larger digs at Canton's Emerging Technology Center June 1. At 1,700 square feet, the new spot at 2400 Boston St. is 50 percent larger than the old office. The new space gives the Beehive the capacity to accommodate up to 31 people a day.

"I had my eye on it from the beginning," says Dave Troy, the facility's administrator. But the space only became available mid-April.

Beehive's popularity is part of a larger movement known as coworking, or the idea that independent professionals work better together than alone in their basements. The concept of coworking is gaining popularity in many cities around the world, according to Troy. "So many people who are freelancers are working from home," he says.

Starting a business and working from home can be isolating and makes it difficult for folks to keep up to date on best practices.  It's also tough to hold meetings.  Having a central facility for freelancers and entrepreneurs makes it easier to team up with the right people, Troy says.

Take the Beatles, for instance. The band's magic came from having the right combination of talented musicians in a shared space.  Similarly, the best business ideas get unleashed with you have the right blend of people bouncing ideas off one another, Troy says.

Some freelancers work in a caf�, but in that space people don't get to interact. "In this environment, you have the opportunity to get to know each other over time," Troy says. "In a caf�, everyone is trying ot to leave each other alone."

A Beehive membership runs $175 a month to work three days per week and $275 per month for daily access. Members can also purchase a day pass for $25.

Beehive Baltimore holds about 75 people in its membership database and gets about eight to 10 freelancers each day.  The current space allows for a maximum of 15 people a day.

Readmore from our coverage of Canton!

Source: Dave Troy, Beehive Baltimore
Writer: Julekha Dash

Hanover, Md.-based Frank Parsons, Inc., a wholesale office supplier, has opened a Frank Parsons Express plus, the company's next generation of wholesale stores. In addition to the usual inventory of paper, envelopes, and ink, which have been the foundation of the company's existing stores, Frank Parsons Express plus will stock a full line of office supplies as well as an extensive selection of colored and textured papers that are unavailable at most office supply stores.