Business

Bethesda-based global security and aerospace company Lockheed Martin won a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop and demonstrate a nuclear-powered spacecraft under a project called Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO). The project will represent a rapid advancement in propulsion technology to benefit exploration and national defense.

A Carroll County meat producer is growing its headquarters and manufacturing operations and plans to double its workforce over the next five years, Gov. Wes Moore announced Wednesday. Westminster-based Hahn Bros., Inc., also known as Hahn’s of Westminster, is moving to a 10-acre plot in Hampstead, where it plans to construct a 54,000-square-foot facility that will serve as the company’s new headquarters and manufacturing plant.

Harbor East has snagged another new tenant — this time from Baltimore County. The Americas Region headquarters of Allianz Trade recently signed a lease to relocate its headquarters to 100 International Drive from Owings Mills. The Paris-based global insurance firm will move 200 workers to the city from the county late this year. Allianz Trade CEO James Daly said the move from Owings Mills was prompted by the LEED certification of the Harbor East office tower, formerly known as the Legg Mason tower, and a change of scenery.

A group of hemp processors and retailers whose businesses heavily relied on delta-8 products sued Maryland regulators on Monday, claiming that the state is boxing them out of the new recreational cannabis industry. Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed a law establishing rules for the new recreational cannabis industry that began July 1.

Urban Strategies Inc. (USI) will launch a small business loan fund to support new and growing locally owned businesses in Baltimore and two other cities through a $1.5 million grant from the Truist Foundation, it was announced Tuesday. USI will use the funding to support its Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in establishing a bridge to capital and wealth creation for women- and Black-, Latine- and Indigenous-owned small businesses in Baltimore, Norfolk, Virginia and Ft. Myers, Florida.

Potbelly Corporation signed a deal with its founder and his son to create 15 new locations and rebrand 12 more in Maryland, the sandwich restaurant chain announced Monday. The company signed the deal with its founder Bryant Keil and his son, Hampden Keil, which grants Bryant Keil exclusive territory rights in seven Maryland counties – Washington, Frederick, Montgomery, Prince George, Charles, Calvert and St. Mary’s – to develop 15 new Potbelly shops in the next eight years.

It all started with a nonalcoholic beer. Darryl Collins cracked open a can from Athletic Brewing Co. about a year ago and liked what he tasted. Athletic, the Connecticut-based manufacturer of beers with less than 0.5% alcohol by volume, is a rising star in the rapidly expanding field of nonalcoholic drinks, ranking second on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing food and beverage companies of 2022.

Lidl plans to open at least one new store in Prince George’s County, perhaps more, offsetting the recent closure of its Oxon Hill store. The German discount grocer has signed a lease for the roughly 40,451 square feet that had housed the former Price Rite at 3104 Queens Chapel Road, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Lidl filed interior demolition plans for the space earlier this year, according to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.