Business

The Daily Record is proud to recognize 57 honorees for the 2024 Influential Marylanders awards. The Influential Marylanders honorees are chosen for their contributions to their respective fields and for their leadership in Maryland in the following areas: civic leadership, communications, education, finance, freestyle, general business, health care, law, philanthropy, real estate and technology.

A lender is threatening to take control of a city-backed hotel that is part of an ambitious redevelopment of an East Baltimore neighborhood, court records show. The owner of the 15-story Residence Inn Baltimore at the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus missed a July deadline to repay a $21 million loan. The lender is now asking a judge to put the entire complex — which includes several commercial and restaurant spaces — in the hands of another operator while its finances are sorted out.

A Baltimore County shopping center has traded for $16.65 million in its first ownership change since 1981. The two-building Arbutus Shopping Center at 1052–1082 Maiden Choice Lane and 4733-4741 Westland Blvd. was sold to an LLC belonging to local investorMeir Duke, whose portfolio includes commercial assets and other shopping centers. The seller — Stamford, Connecticut-based AmCap Inc. — was looking to offload the center ahead of its debt maturation, according to KLNB Principal Chris Burnham, who advised the company along with his colleague Vito Lupo.

The FTC said it stands by its study. “Just three companies control nearly 80% of the market that millions of Americans must use to purchase necessary drugs at high costs,” an agency spokesman said. “This is a complicated and opaque market, and the FTC is committed to using its clear authority to help the public and policymakers understand it.”

There’s a lesson to be learned from the fact that Janet Currie has the job she does: It is possible to say no to a big opportunity and still succeed. Currie did. Years ago, Bank of America wanted to promote her and move her to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The offer was tempting. But it didn’t work for reasons including her husband’s job and a desire to stay near extended family.

Kondwani Fidel says he began wearing New Balance sneakers right “out of the womb.” They’ve always been one of his go-to brands, along with Nike’s Air Force 1 shoes. Most of his friends wore them, too. They enjoyed the versatility of the shoe — whether that be wearing them with a suit jacket or to play hoops. “You couldn’t tell me I wasn’t fresh with New Balance,” he said. “That’s how we put fits together.”

A printing company with a nearly century-long history in the Baltimore area is leaving the city, a move that potentially puts 144 people out of work. BC Graphics, which produces direct mail, is not renewing its lease on a South Baltimore industrial site and will shift its operations to facilities in Western Maryland, Virginia and Kansas, according to a company spokesperson. Edge Direct, a sister company based at the same facility, is also leaving Baltimore.

Bank of America announced it has raised its U.S. minimum hourly wage to $24 per hour in Maryland and nationwide, the latest step in the company’s commitment to a $25 hourly minimum wage by 2025. The announcement was made by Sheri Bronstein, Bank of America’s chief human resources officer. With the increase, the minimum annualized salary for full-time employees in the U.S. will rise to nearly $50,000.