Baltimore Business Journal articles from September 2000

Baltimore Business Journal archives from September 2000

It takes a village.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Arundel hopes to recreate small town Mounds of dirt and heavy construction equipment still dot the landscape on a parcel of land in western Anne Arundel County. But Brian Gibbons arid Mark Bomse already envision a full-blown community...

Barcoding.com picks Fells.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Barcoding.com Inc., after finalizing its initial round of venture capital, has signed a letter of intent to purchase a 7,000-square-foot building at 509 S. Caroline St. in Fells Point. The company, which develops wireless bar coding...

Midtown tech site planned.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... St. Paul Street center would be 'affordable' Little-known local developer Alan Piscatelli plans to buy Whitman, Requardt & Associate's headquarters -- the former Federal Land Bank building -- in Baltimore's midtown section and turn it into...

County to get cancer complex.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Franidin Square Hospital Center plans to build a $10.3 million cancer center as part of its strategy to beef up cancer research efforts and shed its image as a community hospital. The proposed center, which will likely break ground next...

USinternetworking buys firm.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Annapolis-based USinternetworking Inc., an applications service provider, bought Warren, N.J.-based EnableVision LLC for an undisclosed amount, company officials said. The purchase of EnableVision, which provides systems integration services,...

Condor wins $10 million contract.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Condor Technology Solutions announced that it has won a five-year contract worth an estimated $10 million from the federal General Services Administration. Condor will be eligible to provide information technology services to all agencies of...

BOA unveils wireless services.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Bank of America introduced wireless banking and brokerage services to its private clients in Baltimore, Washington and Dallas-Fort Worth. Bank of America, the largest bank in Maryland and in the United States, developed the services with a...

Conte and TU mediate.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... A $5.3 million breach of contract lawsuit that Michael Conte has brought against Towson University in Baltimore County Circuit Court is moving toward mediation. Conte is the former director of the university's Regional Economic Studies...

MART eyes Belvedere Sq.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... There's no doubt that developer James J. Ward III has taken a bruising from city officials and North Baltimore residents about his ownership and oversight of Belvedere Square. But, Ward, president of Ward Development Co., is suddenly the...

Manekin's 1st day in school.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Donald Manekin, a partner and senior vice president of Columbia-based Manekin LLC (www.manekin.com), said Aug.28 that he was enjoying his first day as the interim chief operating officer for the Baltimore City school system. When asked if...

Plans for Harbor Park.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Don't count on another movie theater coming soon to Harbor Park, the vacant building at the corner of Lombard Street and Market Place. Miller Corporate Real Estate, which is now handling the leasing for the site, will go after "all...

Gainers & Losers.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... We might be thousands of miles away from Redmond, Wash. but luckily we're not quite out of Bill Gates' philanthropic reach. * Bank of America By unveiling its wireless technology, the country's largest bank takes a giant technological step....

Struever, Continental to develop tech center.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse Inc. and Continental Realty Corp. have purchased the former Coca-Cola syrup plant in Locust Point and plan to convert the vacant facility -- rife with rusting loading docks and overgrown grass -- into a hip,...

Health care industry braces for another 'Y2K'.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... About nine months after the debut of Y2K, the federal government has released guidelines establishing what one area health care official calls the industry's "Y2K without an end." Last month, the federal government released regulations that...

Colleges search for 'investors'.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Administrators from 35 historically black colleges from across the country gathered at Morgan State University recently to plan new partnerships between their campuses and the private sector. The campus leaders say the three-day meeting...

Investors clamor for new Arundel bank stock.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The initial public offering for CommerceFirst Bancorp. Inc. (www commerce 1st.com), the holding company for Commerce-First Bank, a new commercial bank based in Annapolis, was more popular than the bankOs executives had originally imagined. The...

Listserv links marketers.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Tern M. Sommella, president of Sommella Market Strategies (www.sommellamarketing.com), a Baltimore consulting firm, has developed an Internet list serv for marketers in the accounting field. Sommella has spent the past nine months...

Rosedale Federal Savings and Loan Association.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Rosedale Federal Savings and Loan Association (www.rosedalefederal.com) of Overlea is opening a new office in Forest Hill at the corner of Forest Valley Drive and Rock Spring Road. The last branch office to open was in October of 1999 in...

Mercantile-Safe Deposit & Trust Co.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Kenneth A. Bourne Jr., executive vice president in charge of the bank division at Mercantile-Safe Deposit & Trust Co. is taking a position with another type of Obank. O Bourne has become chairman of the Frederick N. Griffith Foundation for the...

Fleet Capital Corp.(opens office in Columbia)
September 1, 2000... Boston-based Fleet Capital Corp. (www.fleetcapital.com) is opening an office in Columbia to try and tap into the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. market The firm hired Michael J. Nieberding to manage the region.

Eichelberger, Griesser, Eddy & Alms.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... ColumbiaOs Eichelberger, Griesser, Eddy & Alms is opening an office in Salisbury. Gary Desjardins, former vice president of the Eastern Shore Region for Allfirst, will manage the office.

Five-acre dealership nears sale.(Brooks BMW in Baltimore County, MD)
September 1, 2000... Baltimore business man Lou Cohen has a contract to buy Brooks BMW on Kenilworth Drive in Baltimore County. That means the dealership, the land, everything, he said. Cohen, former owner of Heritage car dealership in Reisterstown, is...

N.J. firm buys Arundel site.(Whitehall Industrial Properties LLC)
September 1, 2000... Whitehall Industrial Properties LLC of Edison, N.J., has acquired its first property in the Baltimore area. The newly created company purchased the 112,000-square-foot building at 521 McCormick Drive in Anne Arundel County, said Michael...

Arundel hospital adds to its growing campus.(Anne Arundel Health System adds facilities at Annapolis campus)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Anne Arundel Health System keeps adding to its 28-acre medical campus on Jennifer Road in Annapolis. Construction continues at the campus's new seven-story hospital, six-story ambulatory care pavilion and 650-car garage. The nearly...

Post-merger plans.(North Arundel Hospital facility plans)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... A little more than two months after merging with the University of Maryland Medical System, North Arundel Hospital is beginning to tackle the projects the Glen Burnie hospital planned in conjunction with its new parent organization. First...

Addressing a crisis.(national nursing shortage)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The nationwide nursing shortage may not be showing signs of waning, but that does not mean the state of Maryland is not attempting to do something about it. After receiving the official go-ahead by Gov. Parris N. Glendening the latter part of...

Harbor plans on hold.(Harbor Hospital Center's pediatrics unit expansion plans)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Harbor Hospital Center has had to shelve its plans to expand its pediatrics unit because it was not able to secure all the funds needed to start the project, said Pete Kerzel, a spokesman for MedStar Health, which owns Harbor. The...

Ice cream franchiser expanding.(MaggieMoo's Ice Cream & Treatery to open two stores in Northern Virginia)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... MaggieMoo's Ice Cream & Treatery has plans to open two stores in Northern Virginia this year, with four more on the horizon. The Columbia company will open a store at Reagan National Airport in October and one in Pentagon Row in Pentagon...

Change slow in Arundel.(Anne Arundel County changes class-H liquor license laws)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Though consumers in Anne Arundel County have awaited the decision for decades, they will have to hang on a bit longer before lines at their favorite restaurant get shorter. An ordinance that took effect July 1 allows restaurant operators to...

Baltimore Development Corp.($200,000 loan to Victor's Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The Baltimore Development Corp. recently disbursed a $200,000 loan to Victor's Inc., owner of Victor's Cafe in Inner Harbor East. The loan, consisting of funds from the BDC's Empowerment Zone Loan Fund, is slated to towards renovations...

Training online.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Staff development moves to the Web Larry Mercier calls himself the "Cyber Dean." For the director of Transportation Virtual University (TVU) for the U.S. Department of Transportation, it's fitting. For a year, Mercier has been the dean...

Market Facts.(facts about US newspapers)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 1, 2000... Who is reading the newspapers? While it seems that the daily newspaper readership is dwindling, the daily paper is still reaching a greater audience than prime time TV. According to the Newspaper Association of America (www.naa.org), which...

Get ahead with Web training.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... E-Learning has arrived. E-Learning is any type of training and learning that takes place electronically. From using computer-based training, Internet, intranet, video training, or teleconferencing, electronic learning is here to stay. Whether...

Broadband access to revolutionize Internet.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Since the commercial world took notice of the Internet in 1993, things have been changing at a break-neck pace. The Internet has been transforming the economy, and what constitutes a "Web site" (not to mention what constitutes an "economic...

Kenneth Barksdale.(RewardsPlus CEO)(Brief Article)(Interview)
September 1, 2000... RewardsPlus of America The accolades keep coming in for Kenneth Barksdale. Small wonder. Goldman Sachs & Co. says the market for employee benefit products exceeds $1.2 trillion annually, which means Barksdale and his partner R. Jamie...

Maryland's empty whiskey bottle.(Prohibition killed the rye whiskey industry)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Can a substantial state industry disappear without a trace? The Maryland rye whiskey industry did. One need only scan the whiskey collection of Alicia and John Horn, owners of Fells Point's Birds of a Feather. There, amongst the repository...

Remembering Maryland National.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... There existed, before Bank of America was, well, Bank of America, a time when Baltimore was the capital of one of the nation's strongest banking regions. The city itself was a bastion of regional and even national banking powerhouses, and...

Mobile in deal with Va. Firm.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Baltimore-based Mobile Coyote, a provider of wireless Internet access for portable devices, signed a deal with Reston, Va.-based Mobile Commerce and Computing to combine access with content. According to the agreement, Mobile Coyote will be...

European skies.
September 1, 2000... iSky, a provider of outsourced customer service, announced that it has acquired Telecom Potential Group of Bristol, England, which provides similar services to clients in financial services, telecommunications, high-tech, leisure and tourism....

Firm looks east for a merger.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Columbia company to sell subsidiary to Indian buyer Shridhar Gadhi plans to shift his Columbia technology firm into high gear by merging its Indian subsidiary with a publicly traded firm in that country. The 28-year-old founder and...

Techpreneur of the Week: Aaron H. Kazi.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The Canton Group LLC BBJ: Where did you get the idea for your business? Kazi: Kirk Grothe, partner for business development, came up with the idea. The two of us were discussing what type of business we would like to start. He felt...

People.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... * Accounting M. Kent Thomas was elected to serve on the board of directors at Katz, Abosch, Wmdesheim, Gershman & Freedman PA. Thomas is co-chair of the firm's Construction Service Group. Steven D. Halpern, a principal with Rowles &...

Under the hood.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Entrepreneur finds calling in car repair Traditionally, automobile repair has been an almost exclusively male preserve. But a vocational test helped Christine Neubauer discover that fixing cars is in her blood, and she is now the general...

How did you find your web designer?(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Paul Heiss President HighStakes Solutions Inc. / West Friendship "We felt it was important to design our Web site in order to distinguish our company from the competition and expand our market share. In order to find the best design...

Tech firms starting to give.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The technology industry, from Silicon Valley to our local Digital Harbor, does not have a stellar reputation when it comes to corporate citizenship. This fledgling industry has been accused of being peopled with selfish twenty-somethings...

Don't quash Ravens parties.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... It's that time of year again. That's right, sports fans -- football season is' about to start in Baltimore. But, while neighborhoods in other cities are planning to laud their teams with parties around the stadium, our fair city is doing just...

City shouldn't need rainy days to clean up the grime.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... I must admit to being a bit sick of the rain. Yet I couldn't help but welcome it this week. That's because the streets of Baltimore have been looking a bit grimy these days. Maybe it's because I just returned from Dublin, Ireland, where I...

Mid-Atlantic Realty Trust.(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
September 1, 2000... Corporate profile Mid-Atlantic Realty Trust, the Lutherville-based real estate investment trust; continues to boost its bottom line through the acquisition and redevelopment of shopping centers. Funds from operations -- diluted per share...

Web Site of the Week: www.aachtc.org.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The politics of Arundel's tech community The home page for the Anne Arundel County High Technology Council acts as an advocate and a resource for the growing tech community in the county. Users can find a list of the 75 council members and...

Biotech blues.(Baltimore's biotechnology industry)
September 8, 2000... Baltimore struggles to keep, attract industry Baltimore City, some area business people say, is having an identity crisis. They Wonder if -- in the city's push to become a technology-friendly community and establish the "Digital...

Coffee chain seeking 100 stores in region.(Caribou Coffee Co.)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... Caribou Coffee Co., the Minneapolis-based alternative to Starbucks Corp., wants to make it easier for underserved caffeine lovers throughout the region to grab a cup of Joe. The outfit, which bills itself as the nation's second-largest...

Morris gets city MBE job.(Brian Morris, interim head of minority and business development)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... Financier to lead minority program Brian Morris, the high-profile CEO of a city financial services company, has been tapped by Mayor Martin O'Malley as the interim head of the office for minority and business development. Pending...

City nabs BOMA Intl. convention.(Building Owners and Managers Association)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... The Building Owners and Managers Association International plans to hold its annual convention in Baltimore next year, a meeting expected to generate almost $11 million in economic impact for the city. The Baltimore convention marks the...

RailWorks to buy local company.(Transportation Systems Group)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... RailWorks Corp., a Baltimore company that provides rail products nationwide, has signed an agreement to purchase certain assets, liabilities and contracts of AAI Corp.'s Transportation Systems Group, a Baltimore company that assembles and...

WorldCom to take over Digex.(part of Intermedia acquisition)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... WorldCom announced that it will take control of Beltsville-based Web firm Digex as part of its $2.9 billion purchase of Intermedia. WorldCom, the second-biggest long-distance service provider, will pay $39 in cash and stock for each of...

Ciena takes charge in 4Q.(doubtful accounts charge)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... Linthicum-based Ciena Corp., the developer of fiber-optic technologies, was notified by a London court that one of its customers has filed for the British equivalent of bankruptcy protection. As a result, Ciena may not be able to collect the...

Ravens 2nd in payroll.(Baltimore Ravens)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... The Washington Redskins have gotten a lot of attention for having the biggest payroll in the National Football League. Owner Daniel Snyder has even been accused of buying a championship ala George Steinbrener and baseball's New York Yankees....

Bank suit settled.(Joyce Lancaster versus Harbor Federal Savings Bank)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... Provident Bankshares Corp. executives don't have to worry about a million-dollar lawsuit hanging over their heads from the Harbor Federal Savings Bank merger anymore. In May, former Harbor Federal employee Joyce Lancaster filed a $5...

Big screen, little money.(Market Place Commercial pursue court award)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... The landlords of the Harbor Park complex on East Lombard Street face an uphill climb in collecting on more than a $67,000 court award. The award is in jeopardy after former tenant United Artists Theater Co. officially filed for protection...

Gainers & Losers.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... How does one escape the cool, damp Baltimore summer? Fly to Ireland! Well, maybe not. * Vacationers Aer Lingus takes off at BWI. The mayor has a direct route for his Guinness now. * Commuting The yellow buses are back (most of them,...

Nursing homes look to playgrounds, pets.(to make residents more comfortable)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... The elaborate, multi-colored playground complete with jungle gym and miniature castle on the campus of Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital gives it away. It is not business as usual at the long-term care facility located next...

Harford baseball stadium misses target date.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... Three weeks after the mayor of Aberdeen gave the proposed Ripken Stadium project the go-ahead, the $25.7 million project is still in limbo. Doug Wilson, the city's mayor, said in mid-August that he expected construction to begin on the...

Guilford kills plan to expand.(Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... As a result of its failed merger deal with Cleveland-based Gliatech Inc., Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Baltimore has scrapped plans to hire as many as 40 employees and open a new office, according to company officials. Angie Rubin,...

Bay National to stay away from 'branch race'.(Bay National Bank)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... Start-up, non-traditional Lutherville bank opens without tellers or ATMs At a time when Baltimore banks are expanding their branch networks at a furious pace, start-up Bay National Bank is eschewing traditional retail branches. Bay...

Staubach heads into the furniture business.(new program provides businesses with office equipment)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... The Staubach Co., the Dallas-based commercial real estate firm, has launched a new program that will provide its clients with more than just office space. Called "S.O.S.", short for Staubach Office Services, the program outfits tenants...

Donors eye 'Main Street'.(Baltimore neighborhood revitalization)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... Some foundations and members of the private sector are interested in investing in the "National Main Street" program, a blueprint to revitalize Baltimore's neighborhoods, said Dominic E. Wiker, who is heading the local initiative. Wiker...

Microloan fund unveiled.(by Empower Baltimore Management Corp)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... Empower Baltimore Management Corp, has started a microloan fund aimed at helping small businesses. The $1,500 to 50,000 loans are available to businesses in the city's Empowerment Zones, which comprise nearly 7 square miles. The fund,...

Nonprofit picks Seton.(Hearing and Speech Agency of Metropolitan Baltimore)(Seton Business Park)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... The Hearing and Speech Agency of Metropolitan Baltimore plans to purchase 3.2 acres in the Seton Business Park for its new Gateway School, clinical services program and referral service, according to the Baltimore Development Corp. The...

BDC selects developer.(Baltimore Development Corp. selecs 1899 Limited Liability Co.)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... The Baltimore Development Corp. has selected 1899 Limited Liability Co. to redevelop the historic Northern District Police station in Hampden. The company will convert the former Victorian-style police station at 3355 Keswick Road into...

Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A. Inc.(leases warehouse space in Maryland Wholesale Food Center)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... * Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A. Inc. has leased 75,000 square feet of warehouse space at 7970 Tarbay Drive in the Maryland Wholesale Food Center in Jessup. Scott Skogmo of TSC Realty Services LLC represented the tenant. Matt Ryan and Tom Whelan...

Einhorn Yaffee Prescott.(receives contract to renovate Chemistry/Biochemistry building at University of Maryland)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... * Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Architecture & Engineering, a Washington, D.C., firm, was selected to renovate the Chemistry/Biochemistry building at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The facility, originally constructed in the late...

Health care firm nears deal with Walter Reed.(IC-USA; Walter Reed Army Medical Center)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... Dr. Brian Rosenfeld does not want to jinx his start-up company, but the founder of IC-USA sees a few more business deals in the near future for his Baltimore-based firm. And much more business -- perhaps several billion dollars worth -- is out...

Digest maker moves.(Physicians Practice Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... Physicians Practice inc., me publisher of Physician's Practice Digest, has moved from its 2,500-square-foot Baltimore office to a larger space near Baltimore/Washington International Airport as part of an overall company growth plan. Last...

Leaders meet on new law.(health care leaders )(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... Several health care leaders met Aug. 31 in what was the first of perhaps many meetings regarding new legislation intended to establish standards for what a health care claim from a provider to insurer should include. Among the topics...

Priced out.(Baltimore real estate market)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... Submarkets benefit from real estate boom, buyer overflow When Nikki Harvey began looking for a home last fall, she started looking in Ruxton. After a few weeks, she looked in Stoneleigh and other parts of Towson. The search became more...

Market Facts.(residential development in Maryland)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... Since 1997, fewer and fewer multiple-family housing units have been built in Maryland. The number of single-family homes built is increasing each year, with the gap between those and the total number of new housing units getting smaller. In the...

New-home market jumps 10.8 percent in July.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 8, 2000... The new-home market rebounded in July. A total of 82,000 new one-family houses were sold last month, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. That was...

Construction work force still growing.(employment, and other economic indicators)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... The past 12 months have been good for the construction sector. And the service sector. And even the mining sector. Employment in those three sectors grew faster than the national average of 1.9 percent between August 1999 and August 2000,...

BET targets Web site to black homebuyers.(Black Entertainment Television )(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... It's all about comfort, Scott Mills said. In February, Washington, D.C.,-based BET Holdings -- the parent company of Black Entertainment Television -- launched a Web site for black consumers. The recent addition of a mortgage-lending...

Gigi Wagner.(of MIE Properties Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... MIE Properties Inc. Gigi Wagner, a partner with Baltimore based MIE Properties Inc., works hard not to discuss her family ties. It has been known to take new employees of the full-service commercial real estate firm months to figure out...

Technology a driver in commercial real estate.(real estate industry, and the developing e-commerce industry)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... Technology and its impact on the commercial real estate industry is one issue we cannot ignore, especially as the number of cell phones, pagers, Palm Pilots and laptops has multiplied. It is safe to say that of all the forces shaping our...

Md. soccer complex draws corporate support.(SoccerPlex and Discovery Sports Center)(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... It was over a pizza that Germantown's 24-field, state-of-the-art SoccerPlex and Discovery Sports Center were conceived. The Bethesda Falcons, a girls' soccer team playing in the Washington Area Girls' Soccer League, and their parents were...

Facility planning helps meet the user's needs.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... Each facility project that results in changes to the physical environment must begin with identifying the needs of the people who will use the facility. If user needs are not adequately, considered, the result may be a misfit between the...

With dot-coms in lead, REITs bide their time.(Brief Article)
September 8, 2000... Wall Street is a fickle mistress, as every non-dot-com has learned by now. With investors lavishing largess on high-tech darlings, traditional players such as real estate investment trusts, or REITs, have had to bide their time. With cash...