Business

Fewer Greater Baltimore companies made the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies this year than in any year since 2015, a drop in revenue growth that comes as investment has also plateaued in the area. Forty nine local companies made this year’s list, down from 63 in 2022. It’s the first time the region has dipped under 50 listed companies since 45 Greater Baltimore businesses made the list in 2015.

About a decade later, the surrounding neighborhoods changed rapidly, as speculators induced homeowners to sell their houses at rock-bottom prices, then sold the houses at a premium to incoming Black residents, according to the author W. Edward Orser. Newer shopping centers siphoned business from the Edmondson Village Shopping Center, which gradually deteriorated. The shopping center, once known for its distinctive Colonial Williamsburg architecture and its Christmas lights, became known for crime and the occasional fire.

Thirty-one companies in Greater Washington earned places in the top 500 of the annual Inc. 5000 list tracking the country’s fastest-growing private companies, an improved showing for the region from a year ago. Goldschmitt and Associates, a Leesburg government contractor specializing in tech modernization, came in at No. 34 overall — the best placement among both Greater Washington and Virginia companies. The company has posted three-year growth of 10,293%, according to data analyzed by Inc. It placed at No. 18 overall in the Mid-Atlantic region.

National defense technology company Leonardo DRS has moved one of its Montgomery County locations to Frederick. The roughly 85,000-square-foot building on Executive Court is part of the company’s Airborne and Intelligence Systems sector, which develops radio systems used in advanced electronic warfare and intelligence gathering for the U.S. military and other intelligence agencies.

A ‘hush trip’ has emerged as one of the employee abuses made possible by remote and hybrid work, and in a ResumeBuilder survey of Gen Z workers under age 27, a surprisingly large share admit to having done it.  A hush trip is working from a vacation destination without telling their manager they are on vacation, and sometimes working very little when they go. The survey found 44% of the 900 or so Gen Z office, remote or hybrid workers responding had taken such a trip, and many have taken those trips to an extremely deceptive level.

A federal judge threw out a lawsuit Monday in which Erie Insurance accused state regulators of acting illegally in determining that the insurer engaged in insurance “redlining” of predominantly Black neighborhoods in Baltimore. Judge Julie R. Rubin dismissed the case against the Maryland Insurance Administration, according to an order filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. The judge issued the order after holding a proceeding in open court Monday.

A firm led by a former special forces officer and graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy has acquired the Westin Annapolis hotel for $51 million. The 225-room, 11-suite luxury property at 100 Westgate Circle sold last month to an entity of District Hospitality Partners, a private hospitality real estate investment trust (REIT) led by Fred W. Malek, a graduate of the Naval Academy who later served in Navy Special Forces. Malek is CEO of the Bethesda firm that has a portfolio of properties across the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean, according to its website.

Shop Maryland Tax-Free Week will return Aug 13-19 in time for back-to-school shopping, the comptroller’s office announced. “This tax-free week is a way for Marylanders to save a few dollars, especially as their wallets are tight,” Comptroller Brooke Lierman told 11 News. “This is a great week in which to do that back-to-school shopping that maybe you’ve been putting off or waiting on this week to do.”