Business

EcoMap Technologies, a Baltimore-based ecosystem AI software company, Tuesday announced the appointment of co-founder Sherrod Davis as CEO as the company moves forward in the wake of the death of co-founder and CEO Pava LaPere. Davis was elevated from chief operating officer to take over as CEO. Since joining EcoMap in 2021, Davis has played an important role, securing nearly $8 million in funding to advance EcoMap’s next-generation technology and expand the team to 30 members, including recruits from cities such as Chicago, Boston, Dallas and New York City.

Topgolf Baltimore — the upscale place to get a drink and drive golf balls — just hit the market for $59.3 million. The three-level sports entertainment facility that opened to great fanfare in late October 2022 near M&T Bank Stadium has been listed for sale and is being hailed in a brochure as the anchor of the emerging $10 million Warner Street Entertainment District on property owned by Caves Valley Partners and Caesars Entertainment.

Pitango Gelato’s first franchise will debut in Northern Virginia next spring as the Baltimore company looks to expand through franchise agreements. Franchisees Sam and Semy Lee signed a lease to bring Pitango to Alexandria, Virginia. Known for its chain of bakery, gelato and coffee shops, Pitango Gelato at 115 S. Union St. in the city’s Old Town neighborhood will be the first of three stores the Lees plan to open in Virginia.

CFG Bank is undertaking the largest capital raise in its 14-year history to support its growing commercial loan portfolio. CFG, the largest bank headquartered in Greater Baltimore, is currently reaching out to private investors to secure $200 million to $250 million and expects to close the fundraising round by year-end. The bank is growing its reserves because it faces a problem many banks would love to have: too many loan opportunities, many coming from parent company Capital Funding Group Inc.’s national health care clients.

Growing up in South Baltimore, Michael Middleton became accustomed to the invisible barriers separating his neighborhood from the next one over. Those imaginary lines, he recalled, meant that Cherry Hill and Brooklyn neighbors shared little in common besides geography. Now retired, Middleton said something extraordinary has happened to those walls over the last few years. Six South Baltimore communities, wary of development north of the Patapsco River’s Middle Branch, joined forces nearly a decade ago and turned a page.

A Mount Vernon Marketplace vendor will give up its stall at the end of the month but will soon have a space of its own. Fishnet owners Keyia and Ferhat Yalcin are in the final stages of purchasing a building in Baltimore’s Remington neighborhood and plan to open their full-scale restaurant and a new food truck by next summer. The seafood eatery, which started as a restaurant in College Park, used the Mount Vernon market to test out business in Baltimore, Keyia Yalcin said. After around four years in Mount Vernon, Fishnet will own its next spot instead of leasing space for various locations.

JPMorgan Chase and Co. has hired 40 workers for its first virtual call center in Baltimore, a program that allows customer-service employees to work from home.n The 40 workers, who are initially being paid $22.50 per hour, are just the first wave of hires for the virtual call center program, as Chase (NYSE: JPM) officials said there are plans to hire more people in Baltimore. Chase debuted its first virtual call center a year ago in Detroit where the center has 90 workers.