Business

Marriott International held a grand opening this week for its new global headquarters, a towering 21-story building that forms just one part of the changing landscape in downtown Bethesda, Maryland. The gleaming new office-hotel complex and other tall new buildings in the central core of downtown Bethesda on Wisconsin Avenue include the Wilson, a 23-story office tower which houses the headquarters for local television channel Fox 5 DC, and the 22-story Avocet Tower, a space for offices and a hotel. While the towering commercial buildings stand out among the multiple construction projects recently completed or now underway, it is residential construction that seen the biggest investment.

Sinclair Broadcast Group, a Hunt Valley-based TV station owner, dismissed as “speculation” a report that it’s trying to sell its Diamond Sports unit to three professional sports leagues, even as plans were confirmed Thursday for the launch of new regional sports streaming services around the country next week. Sinclair bought the regional sports networks for $10.6 billion in 2019, but they were hit hard by pandemic-related disruptions and “cord cutting,” in which many fans have abandoned traditional cable TV.

After a nearly two-year search, the consortium tapped to spearhead an ambitious toll lanes project in Montgomery County has found itself a construction partner. AM Partners, a conglomerate led by Transurban, announced on Wednesday that it has taken on Los Angeles-based Tutor Perini to design and build toll lanes along portions of the Capital Beltway and I-270. The project is a top priority for Gov. Larry Hogan (R), though it has roused opposition locally. Early last year, the Transurban group outbid two other conglomerates, despite the loss of its original construction partner, Archer Western, which separated from AM Partners for reasons that have never been made public.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit small business owners hard, forcing virtually every business to explore new ways to reach their customers. For many, the challenges to keep the lights on led to some surprising results. The term “pivot” emerged as a buzzword to describe how businesses were changing the way they operated. Some of those changes were so impactful, they have become permanent fixtures. Here’s how two Maryland companies incorporated their pivot into daily operations.

CFG Bank has agreed to move its offices into 100,000 square feet at Port Covington, becoming the first office tenant in the massive South Baltimore development. Jack Dwyer, owner of the local bank, confirmed to the Baltimore Business Journal Wednesday that the company will relocate to the 235-acre, $5.5 billion development. The news was first reported by the Baltimore Banner. “It’s a great property and we’re happy to be the pioneers moving in,” Dwyer said.

Reading Partners Baltimore is looking for 600 community volunteers for its individualized tutoring program, which is set to resume in person this fall for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The national nonprofit organization, which plans to launch the program at 14 Baltimore city schools in coming weeks, provides students in under-resourced schools with one-on-one reading support to help them reach grade level by fourth grade, according to a news release Wednesday.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Wednesday announced it has received a grant of nearly $120,000 from the Maryland Department of Labor to expand its Registered Apprenticeship for Finance Business Partners in the state. The funds from the grant will cover instruction-related costs for a minimum of 25 new apprentices. Through the state’s Apprenticeship and Training Program, more than 12,000 apprentices are registered to be trained in new job skills with 3,879 employers across the state.