Commercial Real Estate : Buzz

A subsidiary of growing Cardinal Financial of McLean, Va., has opened a Lutherville office, reports American Banker.

It's the third office it has opened in Maryland in the past month  as it tries to win business from larger banks that have scaled back their home lending. 

You can read the rest of the story here. 

Baltimore nonprofit Humanim has redeveloped the former American Brewing Co. headquarters into a job training center in East Baltimore.

Fast Company highlighted the $24 million transformation in a slideshow and story on the magazine's website. The piece is featured in Co.Exist, a section devoted to innovative ideas and groundbreaking use of resources. 

Johns Hopkins Hospital has unveiled its $1.1 billion twin towers. The new hospital will open April 29, reports the Baltimore Sun. 

"There will be X-boxes and a basketball court for kids, single rooms for all patients, sleeper-sofas for family, an improved dining menu and extensive sound proofing," the Sun writes. 

You can read more about the new hospital here. 

And you can read Bmore Media's story on the hospital here. 

When the public got word that Café Hon owner Denise Whiting had trademarked the word "Hon," the Hampen business owner faced a backlash that affected sales of her restaurant.

But she told several media outlets that she is dropping her trademark of the term of the uniquely Baltimore term of endearment. 

She also apologized for stirring up such controversy.

Thanks, Hon.

You can read more about it here.

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.

Under Armour recently unveiled plans for a significant expansion of their corporate headquarters.

From the Sun:

Under Armour is hoping to double the size of its Baltimore headquarters to accommodate additional employees, a retail store and a company museum.

The sports apparel company wants to build an additional 400,000 square feet at Tide Point, an office complex in the Locust Point neighborhood that the firm, which had rented there for years, bought earlier this year.

The company envisions a 20,000-square-foot store opening in 2013, with offices and the museum to follow. Underground and surface parking are also planned.

Read the whole story here.

Frederick-based BlueRidge Bank will soon open a new retail location in Towson.

From the source:

BlueRidge Bank is scheduled to open its first full-service retail branch in the Baltimore area on Sept. 12.

The Frederick bank has had a commercial banking office in Towson since June 2010. But, its new Towson branch at 502 Washington St. marks BlueRidge’s first retail banking location outside Frederick County.

Read the rest here.

Carnival Cruise Lines recently agreed to a deal that will keep it operating from the Port of Baltimore.

From the source:

Carnival Cruise Lines will continue to offer cruises year-round from the Port of Baltimore.

The line agreed to an extension, which was announced Monday and is effective Aug. 31, after the current two-year contract ends.

Read the full story.

Plans to expand Baltimore's legendary Senator Theatre by adding a wine bar and new screens have been approved.

From the source:

The Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation approved proposed renovations to the Senator Theatre on Tuesday, according to the Baltimore Sun.

As previously reported, James "Buzz" Cusack and Kathleen Cusack, the Senator's operators, are seeking to add a wine bar and three more theaters to the building.

Read the full story.

Baltimore's own Grasmick Lumber has been chosen to provide wood planks for Ocean City's new boardwalk.

From the source:

The Town Council voted to heed a recommendation from City Engineer Terry McGean to contract with Baltimore-based Grasmick Lumber as the supplier of more than 56,000 pieces of wood for $602,650. The company has been supplying lumber to the resort for more than a decade.

The figure works out to 52 cents per foot of board, an amount McGean and Grasmick Executive Vice President Kirk Hammonds both called "historically low." In 2008, the town paid about 84 cents per foot for the southern yellow pine it uses on the Boardwalk.

Read the whole story at delmarvanow.com.

Baltimore County is looking to improve openness and walkability in Towson's core.

From the Sun:

"Baltimore County has a plan for the heart of Towson, and it looks like Allegheny Avenue.

In good weather Souris' Saloon can count on serving customers at tables under a black awning on the wide sidewalk where Allegheny meets the traffic circle at York Road. Down the block, Strapazza opens its sidewalk umbrellas for patrons. There's more seating out front at DiPasquale's and Ridgely & Ferrens, finer dining at Cafe Troia, a mix of small stores and the Penthouse high-rise condominium at the intersection of Washington Avenue.

Allegheny isn't burdened by empty storefronts common on streets elsewhere in the town center. And those involved in development efforts say there's also something working nicely in the block itself -- in the mix of businesses and details of windows, sidewalk layout, size of buildings and the way they appear to people walking on the street.

"This is the success story," County Councilman David Marks said, standing on the wide sidewalk outside Souris', where the outdoor tables are often busy long after the work day is over."

Read the full story here.

Baltimore's beloved Bromo Seltzer Tower is turning 100.

From Jacques Kelly at the Sun:

"Like Baltimore, it's quirky," said artist Greg Otto, who has painted the tower numerous times and reproduced it on postcards. "The clock face is gorgeous, an extravagancy we don't see anymore. The tower itself is not particularly beautiful � an unadorned shaft with a wonderful crown. And yet, everybody knows that damn building."

Read the full story 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.

Officials with the nonprofit activist group People for the American Way met recently in Baltimore to talk about how cities can cope with the foreclosure crisis.

The group of 40 toured Whitelock Community Farm in Reservoir Hill, an area on the decline that now has affordable housing for artists. You can read more about the tour on the nonprofit's blog.

When then-Mayor Martin O'Malley announced plans to redevelop a large swath of East Baltimore that would require the displacement of more than 500 families, it was met with a healthy dose of skepticism. Flash forward and the plan is being hailed as the model for other cities.

Here's an excerpt:

"The question is: Can we Americans be more sensitive than we were after World War II, when "urban renewal" forced inner-city residents - mostly black - to abandon their neighborhoods? The prime excuse then was to "eradicate blight." But the uses of the lost neighborhood land often told a different tale: flashy public projects, real estate opportunities for developers and massive freeways that plowed through low-income and minority areas.

Notwithstanding redevelopment around the Inner Harbor, much of Baltimore's inner city was a poster child for deindustrialization. It saw riots in the 1960s, a massive middle-class exodus, waves of drugs, crime, property "flippers" and slumlords.

The Casey Foundation was initially skeptical when Baltimore's mayor, now Gov. Martin O'Malley, asked for help with a $1 billion-plus plan to acquire and demolish hundreds of homes in the Middle East neighborhood, just north of the Johns Hopkins campus. The idea was to create an 88-acre community for life sciences research facilities, retail development and market-rate housing."

Read the entire op-ed here.