Business

Hyundai and Kia have agreed to pay up to about $200 million combined to settle a class-action lawsuit over a manufacturing defect that made it so easy to steal certain vehicles that teenagers were challenging each other to do it on social media. Both companies, as well as attorneys for the plaintiffs, said Thursday that they had agreed on the proposed settlement amount, which still must be approved by the court. In a joint statement, the car manufacturers said the proposed agreement “could be valued at approximately $200 million depending on how many customers elect to participate.”

Johns Hopkins Hospital has received two state grants as it works to complete construction of a nearly $516 million renovation and addition to its East Baltimore campus. The state Board of Public Works on Wednesday approved $11 million in funding to aid in the lengthy construction process for the renovation and addition to the former site of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Children’s Center on Monument Street.

The University of Baltimore selected a Baltimore-based developer to transform a university-owned piece of land adjacent to the Mid-Town Belvedere campus into a $159 million apartment project with ground-floor retail. The university plans to lease the 2.4-acre site, located at the northwest corner of Maryland Avenue and West Oliver Street in central Baltimore, to developer Zahlco.

Google may be cutting back on its employee perks, but many companies still offer certain fringe benefits to lure their employees back to the office at least a few days a week, from subsidized child care and transit benefits to free parking and free food. Enter Pennsylvania-based convenience store chain Wawa, which announced Tuesday it has partnered with catering platform ezCater to get its hoagies, Sizzli breakfast sandwiches, doughnuts and other products into workplaces.

Montgomery County officials, business leaders and police officers gathered in downtown Silver Spring on Wednesday morning to launch the Silver Spring Safety Alliance, an initiative to facilitate greater collaboration between local businesses and law enforcement at time of heightened community concern about public safety.

Baltimore County has acquired a 12-acre parcel at Security Square Mall in Woodlawn as part of an ongoing effort to repurpose part of the shopping center into a community hub. County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr., a Democrat, announced Wednesday that his administration would pay $6.85 million to purchase the extra acreage from owner Helmsman Property Services after buying the former Sears building at the mall last fall.

Maryland technology workers earn some of the highest salaries in the nation, but the state’s job growth is still lagging behind many of its peers. The discrepancy between Maryland’s high salaries and job growth is one of the main takeaways from a dive into tech salaries by the tech trade association CompTIA, earlier this month. Maryland ranks seventh in the country for median tech worker salary at $109,357 per year and has a solid base of companies.

“If you build it they will come” is a famous movie quote from “The Field of Dreams” that has applied to baseball and even baseball stadiums for decades. But if you build more housing, do the wider roads and other amenities come too? The building and development industry in Prince George’s County, Maryland, is anxiously watching local legislation that they believe will stymie the very economic growth some county leaders have made a priority.