Baltimore Business Journal articles from April 1996

Baltimore Business Journal archives from April 1996

Retailers drop expansion plans.(Industry Overview)
April 12, 1996... In 1995, one major retail chain after another announced plans to leap into the Baltimore market. This maybe the year they quietly back out. Several major chains - including Best Buy, Michaels Stores Inc. and Best Products Co. - have scaled...

MGR still means business. (Merry-Go-Round Enterprises Inc.)
April 12, 1996... Like eager parents plucking their kids off the horses once the ride has ended, creditors in the Merry-Go-Round Enterprises Inc. bankruptcy just want to grab what is theirs and move on. But for others, the countless lawyers and real estate...

Mercantile takes early hits to dominant trust position. (Mercantile Safe Deposit and Trust Co.)
April 12, 1996... Company girds for new wave of competition Pressed by intense competition from rival firms and stung by the departure of several key executives, Baltimore's largest hometown trust banker is preparing to fight for its share of the lucrative...

Health care's space needs drive deals.(Special Report: Real Estate/Construction)
April 12, 1996... Not long ago, Sharon Caplan counted the number of her commercial real estate clients from health care organizations, and was astonished to find that nearly half of her clientele comes from that industry. Four or five years ago, that proportion...

Retail developer takes old properties under his wing. (Erwin L. Greenberg)(Special Report: Real Estate/Construction)
April 12, 1996... In 1962, 34-year-old Erwin L. Greenberg was running his family's nearly defunct kitchen remodeling business when his wife developed breast cancer and died, leaving a nine-month-old infant. "When one is that state of mind, you've either got to...

Architects of new stadium believe context is the key. (Helmuth, Obata and Kassabaum)(Special Report: Real Estate/Construction)
April 12, 1996... As construction begins on Maryland's two new National Football League stadiums, architecture firm HOK again will make a major contribution to the Baltimore and suburban Washington landscapes. After designing Oriole Park at Camden Yards, St....

City's real estate costly. (Baltimore, Maryland)(Industry Overview)
April 19, 1996... Two years ago, Baltimore real estate firm Colliers Pinkard offered to show Baltimore City how to manage its real estate more effectively. As a fee, the company would have charged a percentage of any savings it generated. But the city - which...

State swaps dredging for funds.
April 19, 1996... In an effort to win support for a controversial dredge disposal plan, Gov. Parris N. Glendening's administration has pledged millions of dollars in state funds to revitalize portions of southeast Baltimore County. As part of its fiscal 1997...

Annapolis bank sold. (Annapolis Bancshares Inc. sold to Sandy Spring Bancorp.)
April 19, 1996... One of Annapolis' few remaining hometown banks will be sold to a Montgomery County bank that wants to expand into the state's affluent capital. Sandy Spring Bancorp has agreed to buy Annapolis Bancshares Inc., parent of Bank of Annapolis, in a...

Cloverland wins right to Richfood milk aisles. (Cloverland Farms Dairy; Richfood Holdings Inc.)
April 19, 1996... An interstate battle over whether Maryland or Virginia milk will be sold at one of the area's largest grocery store chains ended quietly last week with a Baltimore-based dairy emerging the victor. Richfood Holdings Inc., the Richmond, Va.-based...

After $2M, more say they're coming downtown. (Baltimore, Maryland downtown district geared for business boom)
April 19, 1996... The lights are so much brighter there, you can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares, so go downtown. So goes the Petula Clark song that has been the unofficial theme song of the See Ya 'Round Downtown advertising campaign. Since...

'Local' First National wins stadium bond deal. (First National Bank of Maryland)
April 19, 1996... A local bank will oversee the $86.3 million raised through tax-exempt bonds for Baltimore's new football stadium, despite offering the third lowest bid for the job. The Maryland Stadium Authority last week chose First National Bank of Maryland...

Black & Decker nails turnaround, impresses analysts.
April 19, 1996... In his annual letter to stockholders, Black & Decker Corp. chief executive Nolan Archibald likens this company to a powerful machine. And industry analysts aren't about to argue with him. On the eve of its 1996 annual stockholders' meeting,...

Unions reel in films: growing number of technicians pull in productions, and vice versa.
April 26, 1996... When director Barry Levinson filmed "Diner" here in 1982, the Mid-Atlantic Studio Mechanics had 150 area members. Now the union, which represents stage and film technicians, is more than 400 strong. The regional chapter of the Screen Actors...

Exhibit hall nails key funds: city would loan $2M to Columbus Center. (Baltimore, Maryland)
April 26, 1996... Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke has offered the developers of the Columbus Center a $2 million loan to finish a public exhibit hall that's expected to attract 400,000 visitors a year to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. If approved by the Baltimore City...

Md. job growth in the pit. (Maryland)
April 26, 1996... Maryland's labor pains, caused by contractions in the manufacturing sector and consolidations in the banking industry, have landed the state near the bottom of all 50 states in terms of job growth. Ranked by percent change in job levels,...

Manufacturer ties up national contract: Diplomat Neckwear sews partnership, empowerment assistance into new jobs.
April 26, 1996... Battered by office casual days and a sagging retail market, a small Baltimore tie manufacturer is trying to revive its business by using a little history and lots of color. Diplomat Neckwear, little known despite its 79 years in Baltimore, has...

Bell Atlantic reassures Maryland. (resulting job cuts from merger with NYNEX Corp.)
April 26, 1996... With an unusual amount of fanfare, Baltimore City officials welcomed 650 Bell Atlantic Corp. engineers to the company's downtown office building in December. For Baltimore, hit hard by suburban defections and corporate mergers, the arrival of...