Business

Work on a new residential enclave at Port Covington overseen by local developer Mark Sapperstein will begin next month with the demolition of the former Locke Insulators building. Sapperstein said Thursday the nearly 619,000-square-foot industrial complex next to Nick’s Fish House will be razed starting Oct. 15. The ambitious demo of the manufacturing plant, which was shut down in 2017, will take place “piece by piece” and ultimately make way for the first of 297 townhouses set to break ground in May by DRB Homes. Rockville-based DRB announced its partnership with Sapperstein’s 28 Walker this month and pledged the new community will allow access to the Middle Branch waterfront not available for 100 years.

Annapolis City Council members said Thursday that the city will issue summons for two property management companies accused of grossly neglecting their apartment communities. Representatives from Fairstead Management Inc. and Enterprise Residential LLC, the property managers of Woodside Gardens and Admiral Oaks, respectively, failed to show at the council’s Housing and Human Welfare committee meeting as requested on Thursday. “I want the record to state clearly that Fairstead, representing Woodside Gardens, refused communications until the last minute,” Ward 6 Alderman DaJuan Gay said, before invoking his subpoena authority as the committee’s chair. “I haven’t heard a single thing from Admiral Oaks or their property management company.”

The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits dropped last week, a sign that few companies are cutting jobs despite high inflation and a weak economy. Applications for unemployment benefits for the week ending Sept. 24 fell by 16,000 to 193,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That is the lowest level of unemployment claims since April. Last week’s number was revised down by 4,000 to 209,000. Jobless aid applications generally reflect layoffs. The current figures are very low historically and suggest Americans are benefiting from an unusually high level of job security. A year ago this week, 376,000 people applied for benefits.

The Emmes Co., a Rockville clinical research organization, has snapped up its fifth company in less than two years, and its CEO says it’s still on the prowl for more acquisitions. The company, which runs research for public and private sector customers, has purchased Clinical Edge Inc., a Milwaukee firm that trains and certifies examiners for ophthalmology-related clinical trials. A sale price was not disclosed. The deal, announced Wednesday, will expand Emmes’ reach in Europe and Asia and broaden its offerings to include more certification and training services, Emmes President and CEO Christine Dingivan told the Washington Business Journal.

Earlier today, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon continued laying out the case for employees being in the office. Dimon, one of many prominent CEOs who have advocated for in-office work, said “management by Hollywood Squares doesn’t work well,” according to Triangle Business Journal’s Lauren Ohnesorge. Speaking before a group of business leaders at the University of North Carolina, Dimon suggested they look at “who’s getting ahead, who’s getting the plum assignments?” It’s the person going into the office every day, Dimon said. But a new survey shows a disconnect lingers between many top executives and front-line workers about the future of remote work — even after many businesses have embraced a hybrid setup.

Sinai Hospital broke ground Wednesday on a $50 million expansion that will double the size of its emergency room facilities. The old emergency department at the Northwest Baltimore hospital at 2401 West Belvedere Ave. will be gutted to make way for the new 70,100-square-foot facility, hospital President Daniel Blum said. LifeBridge Health, the medical system that operates Sinai, has sought to expand the emergency department for years, he added, with planning starting during the pandemic.

Two well-known names in the Baltimore business community — a banker and a downtown advocate — will lead United Way of Central Maryland’s “reimagined” fundraising campaign, the organization said Wednesday. Greg Farno, Maryland regional president for Truist, and Shelonda Stokes, CEO of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc., will head United Way’s Engagement Leadership Council — a new incarnation of the nonprofit’s longtime “Campaign Cabinet.”