Business

Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. filed a request Friday with state regulators to increase the rate it charges customers for delivery of both gas and electricity over the next three years by an average of 5% a year. The requested rate increase, if approved by the Maryland Public Service Commission, would boost the average customers’ monthly bill by about $31.07 after three years to support spending by the Baltimore-based utility. The rates would take effect Jan. 1. For the utility, which serves 1.3 million electric customers and 700,000 natural gas customers in central Maryland, the filing is the first step in a monthslong public review process requiring commission approval. The commission can approve, reject or, as it often does, scale back BGE’s planned increase.

A joint venture that includes Beltsville-based IVEA Restaurant Group has closed on its $44 million acquisition of the Shops at Congressional Village with plans to bring a host of new tenants to the Rockville Pike retail center. IVEA teamed up with Windfall Group USA, Caspian Group and Pacifica Square USA to cast the winning bid for the Shops after its prior owner, an affiliate of Ronald Cohen Management Co., defaulted on a 2019 loan backed by the property. The sale was recorded with the Montgomery County Circuit Court on Feb. 8. The center was a little more than 60% leased at the time of the auction to a mix of tenants including 84 Lumber, MyEyeDr and a Verizon store, but its new owners say they’ve inked a half-dozen leases combining for around 30,000 square feet in the 99,463-square-foot center at 1701 Rockville Pike.

A decade ago, Jasmine Cox was living with her young son in the Cove Village rental complex in Essex, Maryland, just east of Baltimore, when she started experiencing a plague of problems. The bedroom ceiling started leaking one day, then maggots started coming out of the living room carpet, and then raw sewage started flowing out of the kitchen sink, she said. She stopped cooking to keep food away from the sink. With so much black mold around, her son started needing an inhaler.

Before Alejandra Flores gave birth to her son, Creative Alliance was just a name in their neighborhood. Over a decade later, the Highlandtown-based organization’s classes and events have shaped Joaquin Miller’s young life. From his very first Great Halloween Lantern Parade to after-school programs and weekend art classes, 11-year-old Joaquin has grown up with Creative Alliance.

A few years down the line, when the fresh faces of Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson and Grayson Rodriguez become ever-so-slightly matured, there will come a time when the core that the Orioles have pinned so much of their future on is at a crossroads. Right now, Rutschman, Henderson, Rodriguez and others are relatively cheap stars. They’re the kind of high-upside players to rebuild around, and it’s upon their shoulders that any vision for future winning seasons in Baltimore rest. The dreams and aspirations from fans and those within the clubhouse are warranted. The Orioles have built what appears to be a winner — and not for one year, for several years.

On March 30, 2020, amid a national emergency and rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in Maryland, then-Gov. Larry Hogan issued an executive order mandating most workers stay home to mitigate the virus’s spread. As other states were issuing similar shutdown orders, and businesses and workers were forced to adapt to a new normal, suddenly the nation was forced to collectively re-examine the nature of work. Now, with the pandemic economic emergency mostly in the rear-view mirror following an economic recovery that has seen unemployment sink to the lowest levels in 50 years and labor force participation rates boosted to near pre-pandemic levels, businesses face a new set of challenges: attracting and retaining workers in a red-hot labor market. A new bill introduced in the Maryland House of Delegates aims to give private businesses a new tool to attract and retain workers: a new vision for the work week.

Rockville’s Supernus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: SUPN), which develops treatments for central nervous system diseases, has secured a nine-figure loan as the company pushes multiple product candidates through clinical trials and comes up against some regulatory hurdles. The credit line with UBS Bank USA gives the clinical-stage biotech access to up to $150 million that “can be drawn at any time,” it said in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said it plans to use the financing for general corporate purposes. “We are pleased to further enhance the strength and flexibility of our balance sheet with this line of credit,” Supernus President and CEO Jack Khattar said in a statement.

Chris Mfume, son of Congressman Kweisi Mfume, is 32 years old and has already made his mark in development. He’s a developer with an eye on inclusion while preserving Baltimore’s neighborhoods. A few weeks ago, he opened a new, 149-unit, $33 million apartment house built on the footprint of the old Epstein’s Highlandtown department store warehouse. It’s called Hohm Highlandtown and faces Bank and Grundy streets. He worked with partners Doug Schmidt and Richard Manekin, who also mentored him in what it takes to get something built dovetailed around the edges of historic shopping and eating streets.