Business

Lakeforest Mall’s owners have redoubled their efforts to persuade Gaithersburg officials to adopt an ordinance that would help speed up redevelopments like theirs. Representatives for South Carolina-based WRS Realty penned a letter earlier this month, its second such appeal, to city officials asking them to take up local legislation that would let the two sides strike what’s known as a Development Rights and Responsibilities Agreement, or DRRA.

Have your kids ever wondered what it feels like to wear an Olympic gold medal? They will have the opportunity to find out Sunday at the grand opening of the Dominique Dawes Gymnastics & Ninja Academy in Rockville. It’s the second location for the gym operated by gold-medal-winning Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes, 46. She’ll be signing autographs, the gold medal will be available for children to try on and take photos with.

Clark, who owns Soigne Luxury Accessories in Fells Point, makes luxury hats for those attending the three horse races that make up the Triple Crown — the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. Her 2023 couture hat collection, which debuted in April, is now getting closer to selling out as Preakness approaches on Saturday.

The pending $6.05 billion sale of the Washington Commanders from longtime owner Dan Snyder and his family to a group led by investor Josh Harris remains under standard review and will not be voted on next week by NFL owners at their spring meeting, the league said Thursday. Jeff Miller, the NFL executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy, confirmed on a conference call with reporters that the approval vote will come later.

Just about every bank based in the Baltimore region is about the same size as it was five years ago, or a little bigger, save one — CFG Bank more than quadrupled its assets, deposits and profits since the end of 2018. With about $4.25 billion in assets at the end of last year, CFG remains a small player nationally, but the Baltimore County bank has blossomed into the biggest bank headquartered in the metropolitan area and fourth biggest in Maryland, even as rising interest rates, depositor worries and bank failures roil the industry.

Hyundai and Kia have agreed to pay up to about $200 million combined to settle a class-action lawsuit over a manufacturing defect that made it so easy to steal certain vehicles that teenagers were challenging each other to do it on social media. Both companies, as well as attorneys for the plaintiffs, said Thursday that they had agreed on the proposed settlement amount, which still must be approved by the court. In a joint statement, the car manufacturers said the proposed agreement “could be valued at approximately $200 million depending on how many customers elect to participate.”

Johns Hopkins Hospital has received two state grants as it works to complete construction of a nearly $516 million renovation and addition to its East Baltimore campus. The state Board of Public Works on Wednesday approved $11 million in funding to aid in the lengthy construction process for the renovation and addition to the former site of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Children’s Center on Monument Street.

The University of Baltimore selected a Baltimore-based developer to transform a university-owned piece of land adjacent to the Mid-Town Belvedere campus into a $159 million apartment project with ground-floor retail. The university plans to lease the 2.4-acre site, located at the northwest corner of Maryland Avenue and West Oliver Street in central Baltimore, to developer Zahlco.