Business

For the third consecutive month, Maryland logged the lowest state unemployment rate in the nation. In August the unemployment rate was at 1.7%, down from 1.8% in July and sharply lower than Maryland’s unemployment rate a year earlier of 3.4%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Maryland’s 1.7% unemployment rate is also a record low.

Seven months after pulling the plug on a controversial process to find a company to run the concessions operations at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, the state is trying again. Late Monday, the Maryland Department of Transportation issued a document known as a Request for Proposal, seeking bidders that want to oversee concessions at the state-owned airport for the next two decades.

Federal regulators have not weighed in yet on the proposed $24.6 billion merger between grocery store giants Kroger and Albertsons, but the Maryland Attorney General’s Office wants feedback from Maryland residents. The two chains combined operate 165 stores in the D.C. area. Kroger also owns Harris Teeter. There are no local Albertsons stores, but Albertsons owns Safeway, the second largest grocer in the D.C. region behind Giant.

The Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) and the Baltimore Development Corporation have opened nominations for the 2023 Mayor’s Business Recognition Award, which honors organizations with an active presence in the six-county Baltimore region that have demonstrated significant leadership and service to improve the quality of life in Baltimore. This year, the GBC has revamped the annual awards program to highlight companies and organizations that fall within five new awards categories.

Baltimore-based Capital Funding Group (CFG) Tuesday announced the closing of a $13.84-million mezzanine loan, which supported the refinancing of eleven skilled nursing facilities and one assisted living facility. In addition to the mezzanine debt, CFG helped the client place the senior debt which totaled $78.46 million. The total financing package amounted to $93.31 million. The facilities, which span Washington, Idaho, and Oregon, operate more than 1,554 beds. The financing was closed on Aug. 25.

A Baltimore restaurant made a New York Times list of America’s best restaurants, becoming the first Maryland establishment to ever be recognized. Little Donna’s at 1812 Bank St. in Upper Fells Point was among the 50 eateries on the New York Times Restaurant List of 2023, which was published Monday. The list launched in 2021 and features 50 restaurants across the country each year that the publication is most excited about.

Little Italy’s former Ciao Bella restaurant and a parking lot that once hosted hundreds for outdoor movie nights will hit the auction block in foreclosure next month, a sale that could mean more changes for the popular neighborhood. The Oct. 11 auction will include the three-story brick building at 236 S. High St. and its six market-rate apartments in the heart of Little Italy. The sale will include the adjacent parking lot at 230 S. High St. that was both a lot for the then-nearby Da Mimmo restaurant and the annual Italian-themed film festival that always kicked off with “Moonstruck.”

Nominations are now open for the Baltimore Business Journal’s 2024 awards. Our lineup includes several new awards as well as returning honors from last year in technology, diversity, Best Places to Work and more. This year we are also bringing back our corporate philanthropy awards to honor two Greater Baltimore companies that are giving back to the community.