Business

Until Saturday, the group that runs the Howard County Fairgrounds was expecting between 5,000 and 10,000 attendees at the Asia Collective Night Market. Instead, more than 25,000 people showed up Saturday, and only a small fraction had places to park, snarling traffic and causing many other issues. “This is the first event I can remember in years that grew to a place that we didn’t know it was growing,” said Mickey Day, president of the Howard County Fair Association. “It was a first-time renter, first-time event.”

A company partnering with operators of the Maryland State Fairgrounds has been approved for a sports gaming license despite concerns that the company has yet to turn a profit. The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission voted 6-0 with one abstention to award a license to Crown Maryland Gaming. The company, owned by Boston-based DraftKings, raised concerns from at least one member of the commission because of repeated annual losses totaling more than $3 billion over a five-year period.

The long-awaited Madison Park North project is now in motion. The desolate block off North and Park Avenues once called “murder mall” because of the violence there was primed Thursday for a $100 million redevelopment by MCB Real Estate, MLR Partners and ATAPCO Properties. The team held a groundbreaking event that drew close to 150 attendees and has signed a deal with Ryan Homes to build 120 market-rate townhouses for the project’s first phase.

The demand for Amtrak workers is on the rise as people opt for traveling by train. Amtrak is launching a nationwide hiring spree as struggles with airline cancellations and a reported 24% increase of luggage being mishandled last year have created the need for more workers to increase the railroad company’s operations.

Every day, Keondra Prier passes an 8-acre vacant lot in the Reservoir Hill community that was once home to a subsidized apartment complex dubbed “Murder Mall.” Prier, who is president of the Reservoir Hill Community Association, said there is “a deep desire, hope and wish” for the Madison Park North property to be turned into a resourceful and appealing space.

Continental Realty Corp. is keeping up its recent buying spree with a $93 million acquisition of five shopping centers in the retail-rich Chicago suburbs. The growing Baltimore real estate company acquired the centers in Cicero, Mount Prospect, Naperville and Palatine, Illinois, from the DiMucci Cos. Tucker Development, a Chicago-based real estate and development firm, acted as an acquisition and development consultant on the transaction.

The staff of Frederick’s Weinberg Center for the Arts will open a new act over the next few months as the theater’s offices will move to a space next door to the West Patrick Street venue. The theater’s staff will transition into new offices at 18 W. Patrick St. over the next few months, Executive Theater Manager John Healey said Wednesday.

While things are starting to slowly quiet down at area beach towns, live music venues still have a lot of entertainment up their sleeves. And many of them are already unveiling plans for September. In Selbyville, the Freeman Arts Pavilion is going strong and plans to continue its activities well into next month. Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the sold-out concert by Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductee Elvis Costello, and it was a trip to see thousands of fans turn out for the British alternative-music icon.