Business

Otis Warren Jr., a self-made businessman who became the first Black person to construct an office building in downtown Baltimore, died Tuesday at Sinai Hospital. His son, Otis Warren III, said he died of complications from “a health issue that occurred two years ago.” Mr. Warren was 80 and had homes in the Village of Cross Keys and in Florida. In 1993, he opened his $38 million, 11-story City Crescent building at Howard and Baltimore streets. “I had a philosophical and emotional need to make this happen for my community,” he said to The Sun of the successfully completed structure. “Beyond the money, it was a purpose. It was a cause.”

A Maryland biotech that’s been working to wipe out drug-resistant infections, or superbugs, is hustling to take its therapy to the patients who need it — now with another avenue to get it done. Gaithersburg’s Adaptive Phage Therapeutics Inc. said Thursday its bacteriophage therapy, which attacks bacteria that don’t respond to antibiotics, is being tested in a study of adults with cystic fibrosis who have a germ called Pseudomonas aeruginosa in their lungs. The National Institutes of Health and its National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which have backed APT’s work previously, are funding the trial.

Maryland is a national powerhouse in finance, health care, education and manufacturing; coupled with several of its public and private colleges and universities, the state is looking to boost outcomes in these industries through venture capital and private investment. TEDCO is proud to serve as a lead collaborator in Maryland’s support of businesses within emerging and underserved communities statewide. Its work with institutions ranges from collaborative marketing of venture funding to direct programming support for startups based at institutions.

The first builders arrived this week at a half empty 1970s public housing project within a West Baltimore neighborhood. Over the next year, the 1970s Rosemont Homes, a village of town houses, will emerge renewed, with an upgraded recreation center. Rosemont, a neighborhood that follows the contours of the hilly Gwynns Falls Valley south of Walbrook, is a community where residents remain proud of their tidy streets. “It’s a blessing that the recreation center will be restored,” said Robert Hunt, a longtime Rosemont resident. “We’re a community with a majority of homeowners … I consider Rosemont my oasis.”

Nelson Mullins Riley and Scarborough LLP has tapped Kraig Long to lead its Baltimore office. Long replaces Tim Hodge, who started the firm’s Baltimore presence in 2018, and has been promoted to become the head of the firm’s Atlantic corporate and real estate practice. McGuireWoods LLP also has a new head of its Baltimore office, with Elena D. Marcuss taking the reins from Cecil E. Martin III. While neither firm has its headquarters in Baltimore, both are among the top 25 largest law firms in the region, according to Baltimore Business Journal research from last spring.

Families near the Northwest Baltimore City-Baltimore County line will have a new early-childhood learning center open for students come July. The upcoming Kennedy Krieger Integrated Early Learning Center in Windsor Mill hopes to be an innovative model in the early-education field. The center will be open to up to 40 children, ages 3 to 5, from families of economic need and combine students with and without disabilities in the same classroom. The learning center will also function as a demonstration site, allowing early-education professionals to undergo observations, trainings and coaching. Family involvement will also be encouraged.

UPMC will increase minimum starting wages for entry-level positions to $18 an hour by January 2025 at its Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Williamsport area sites. By January 2026, the same wage increase will apply to UPMC Western Maryland workers, as well as those in southwest and western Pennsylvania and southwest New York. The rate increase aims to support its workforce, recruit new employees “and continue to be the employer of choice in health care,” UPMC said via press release Thursday.

Bank of America recently awarded two local organizations with a $200,000 multi-year award. Baltimore-based Innovation Works and Per Scholas were the recipients of the 2022 Neighborhood Builders grant for their efforts to provide greater Maryland community members with equitable access to workforce development and job training. Aside from the capital, the nonprofits’ executive directors will receive leadership training from Bank of America on financial sustainability, human resource development and strategic storytelling, among other topics to bolster their projects..