Business

There’s a transformation in progress along Howard Street that should warm the hearts of anyone who knew this neighborhood as a bustling downtown shopping destination. A $10 million restoration of the old Pollack’s furniture showroom is now in its seventh month of a painstaking refurbishment. It has been renamed Crook Horner Lofts, a reference to the old plumbing supply house that did business in the 1890 structure. The building is becoming 15 units of expansive loft-work apartments. With 14-foot high ceilings and dramatically arched windows in some flats, this building references the days when it served as Pollack’s furniture and rugs retail store — after the bathtub and pipe seller moved on.

AeroVanti, an Annapolis luxury flight club, is expanding beyond the skies into the sea to bring a touch of James Bond-chic to Maryland. The rapidly growing travel company has launched the AeroVanti Yacht Club, a venture that offers three vessels for charter. The boats will be rented similar to how planes are chartered through AeroVanti, with a professional captain and crew on board. The most notable vessel is the “Casino Royale,” the same type of Sunseeker Predator that appeared in the 2006 James Bond movie “Casino Royale” as the main base of the villainous Le Chiffre. The two other boats are smaller than the 108-foot ship made famous by Hollywood, a 50-foot sportfishing boat, and a 50-foot sailing boat.

The law firm of Peter Angelos, the incapacitated owner of the Orioles who made his fortune suing companies on behalf of asbestos victims, will go into conservatorship amid a feud that has split his family. With his son, Louis Angelos, sitting on one side of the courtroom opposite the family members he sued, his brother, John Angelos, the Orioles chairman and CEO, and their mother, Georgia Angelos, Baltimore County Circuit Judge Keith R. Truffer accepted an agreement Thursday that the lawyers had hashed out in the hallway.

McCormick & Co. Inc. CEO Lawrence Kurzius said the company is cutting 10% of its American supply chain staff as it looks to boost profits in a tough business environment. Kurzius told analysts that McCormick (NYSE:MKC) is reducing staff from its manufacturing, warehouse and distribution center departments. The cuts come as the company raised its cost savings target from $100 million to $125 million, with $75 million of those savings to be seen in 2023.

Having assumed executive leadership of the Prince George’s County Chamber of Commerce, Alexander Austin faces several challenges, including helping the organization find its post-Covid footing and discerning and navigating a changed political context with a newly elected county council. Austin, a Prince George’s native, began his new job Dec. 19, succeeding David Harrington, who died suddenly in September, having helmed the chamber for 11 years and only just begun a new job for Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic Region.

Boeing pleaded not guilty Thursday to a fraud charge in an unusual case in which families of passengers who died in two plane crashes are trying to throw out a settlement the company reached to avoid prosecution. At a hearing dominated by emotional, wrenching testimony from passengers’ relatives, a federal district judge took the plea and ordered Boeing not to break any laws for the next year.

A confluence of supply chain issues, continued Covid-19 disruptions and inflation took a toll on McCormick & Co. Inc. at year end as the Hunt Valley spice and seasonings manufacturer maker struggled to get its products to customers and missed financial targets. After a strong third quarter, McCormick (NYSE:MKC) reported Thursday that it ended the year with decreases in sales and profits.

Prince George’s County will receive up to $400 million in state bonds to boost the Blue Line Corridor project, a victory for County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks that ensures redevelopment near FedEx Field in Landover even if the Washington Commanders leave town. Maryland’s Board of Public Works approved the much-anticipated investment on Wednesday — a final step that allows the county to start negotiating deals and requesting proposals to redevelop a five-mile area stretching from Capitol Heights to Largo.