Business

The Port of Baltimore could be headed for its second partial shutdown this year. A six-year contract between a dockworkers’ union and shipping companies expires at the end of this month, and labor leaders say they are closer than ever to their first strike in nearly 50 years. Such an action would affect ports along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, upend the global supply chain and put thousands of Baltimore-area residents out of work.

Retail real estate company Centennial said Wednesday it has finalized its deal to purchase the Annapolis Mall in Anne Arundel County. The Texas company is partnering with Sandeep Mathrani, founder of Atlas Hill RE and vice chairman of Brookfield Properties, to acquire the shopping mall. Terms of the sale were not released.

Look out Royal Farms. Step aside Highs and Wawa. There’s a new gas and convenience chain coming to Baltimore County. Sheetz plans to open Thursday in Middle River, its first location in the county as the Altoona, Pennsylvania-based chain continues its expansion throughout the mid-Atlantic. Before now, its closest stores to Baltimore, the longtime home of Royal Farms, were in Joppatowne and Westminster.

Limbach Holdings, Inc., a building systems solutions firm that partners with building owners and facilities managers who have mission critical mechanical, electrical and plumbing infrastructure, Tuesday announced it has acquired Laurel-based Kent Island Mechanical LLC for $15 million. Serving the greater Washington area, KIM is a service provider to facility owners who require solutions for maintaining complex building systems.

A Wawa convenience store planned north of Hagerstown could be open by next summer, according to a senior project manager with ARCTRUST, a Clifton, N.J.-based real estate investment trust involved in the project. This will be Wawa’s first store in Washington County. ARCTRUST has begun site work at 13610 Pennsylvania Ave., near the Maugans Avenue intersection, that will include stormwater drainage work, Senior Project Manager Apusha Paghdal said Thursday.

Novavax Inc.’s updated Covid-19 vaccine received emergency-use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration Friday, sending its shares up about 9% in late-day trading. The updated shot is authorized for people 12 and older and will target the JN.1 strain of the virus. The green light from the FDA will allow Gaithersburg-based Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX), whose vaccine is protein-based, to compete with Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA shots heading into the fall.

Restaurant bankruptcy filings have surged so far this year, echoing a broader rise in corporate bankruptcies across sectors. At least 10 restaurant chains, not including multi-unit franchisees, have filed for bankruptcy in 2024. August alone brought three Chapter 11 filings from notable eateries. The increase in bankruptcies comes as diners pull back their spending, labor costs keep rising and Covid-era government help disappears.