Business

The thick haze outdoors is having more than a health impact on Greater Baltimore. It’s the talk of the town — and yet another impediment to business as usual. Business owners, event planners and restaurant managers are cutting back on outdoor options, scrutinizing how to proceed as the smoke from Canadian wildfires has laid a blanket over the blue springtime skies with a whiplash of Code Red — and then Code Purple — health threats issued Thursday.

The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association announced Thursday its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will remain in Baltimore for an additional year. The extension, announced by CIAA Commissioner Jacqie McWilliams during a news conference sharing economic impact numbers, came a little more than a year after officials from the city and the nation’s oldest historically Black athletic conference had agreed to keep the tournaments in Baltimore through 2025.

A development duo has secured $275 million of construction debt and equity for the first phase of National Capital Business Park, a big new logistics park in Prince George’s County. The envisioned sprawl of Class A industrial buildings, aimed at e-commerce, last-mile delivery, distribution, data centers, light manufacturing, cold storage and the like, represents a joint venture between Manekin LLC and Turnbridge Equities.

Mayor Brandon Scott announced on Thursday that current Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison will step down from his role and city leaders have responded. Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates: “Working with Commissioner Harrison over the past several months was my pleasure, and I wish him well in his future endeavors. I have deeply appreciated his partnership as we worked together to launch the citation docket program and restore accountability to the city we love.

The University of Maryland, College Park will start construction in July on a new $52 million facility for its basketball teams after four years of fundraising. The 44,000-square-foot Barry P. Gossett Basketball Performance Center will serve as a practice space for the Maryland men’s and women’s basketball teams. The athletic department has long sought a basketball practice space to compete with other athletic programs and attract top basketball talent.

The release of the new “Madden” cover athlete every summer is a joyous day on the football calendar, for players and fans alike. For Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen, it was one to forget. On Wednesday, EA Sports announced that Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen will grace the cover of “Madden NFL 24″ when it’s released Aug. 18, joining Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson as stars to receive the honor in recent years.

The first phase of Amazon’s heralded HQ2, Metropolitan Park, which is now officially opening its doors, is a noteworthy milestone in its own right. But that opening represents only the lesser tip of the total HQ2 iceberg. Met Park has two 22-story towers that together weigh in at some 2.1 million square feet. PenPlace, HQ2’s second phase that promises to be even bigger, has been paused for the past few months as Amazon.com Inc. evaluates its needs and next steps — but, apparently, not for much longer.