Business

The City of Baltimore transferred an additional $3.1 million last month to the city-owned Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor hotel, according to a recent financial disclosure, bringing the total amount of payments to about $16 million since the coronavirus pandemic decimated the hotel and tourism industry. The city built the 757-room convention center hotel in the mid-2000s, creating a unique city-owned corporation and borrowing $300 million in bonds to fund its construction. The Baltimore Hilton, on West Pratt Street overlooking Oriole Park at Camden Yards, was intended to lure more business to the convention center next door and has struggled to turn a profit under the crippling weight of its debt. After refinancing the bonds in 2017, the Baltimore Hilton continued to perform below projections, but it was eking out a profit.

A prominent labor and employment attorney, Grace E. Speights says that as a Black woman who is passionate about equity, she is often asked how she can justify working for employers, rather than employees, on issues such as employment discrimination claims. “We’re not out to teach employers how to discriminate against their employees or how to do any kind of bad things against their employees,” she said. “We are trying to teach them and counsel them on making sure their workplaces are safe, inclusive and respectful.” Speights, a partner at the international firm Morgan Lewis, will speak Wednesday at The Center Club in Baltimore as part of the Maryland State Bar Association’s 125th anniversary speakers series.

Peraton Inc., a national security contracting and tech company, is moving part of its operation from a Metro-accessible site in McLean to Bowie. The privately held company, one of Greater Washington largest employers, has inked a lease for a little over 18,000 square feet at 16901 Melford Blvd., an office building that’s part of St. John Properties Inc.’s and its partners’ mixed-use Melford Town Center. By December, Peraton will move its Global Health & Financial Solutions division headquarters from its current office in McLean to the new Maryland site.

A potential strike by CSX railroad workers beginning Friday would suspend commuter trains on the Camden and Brunswick lines, the Maryland Transit Administration said Monday. “As a result of an ongoing labor dispute between CSX Transportation and its labor unions, CSX has notified MDOT MTA that there is the potential for a labor strike,” starting Friday, the MTA said in a news release.

The United Way of Frederick County received a $50,000 grant that will go toward providing transportation to those who cannot afford basic living costs.  The grant comes from L-X Ranch Foundation, which has a mission to “promote human dignity and potential by investing in education, fulfilling basic needs, and enhancing opportunities to experience nature,” according to a news release from the United Way.

Frostburg State University’s Appalachian Festival will return to campus for its 17th year from Sept. 15 to 17. The free, family-friendly event brings together artists and craftspeople to celebrate all that makes the region unique — its history, culture, music and dance, folk arts, food and more — with performances, workshops, displays, discussions and activities. This year’s theme is Landscapes and Livelihoods.

Eddie O’Keefe wasn’t sure he wanted folks to know that Peabody Heights Brewery in Baltimore was an Asian American-owned-and-operated business. O’Keefe, whose mother is Korean, loves to support other Asian American-owned businesses in the area, but the vice president of the Charles Village brewery feared attracting attention to his business as hate crimes against Asian Americans spiked during the coronavirus pandemic. “It seems like things are turning the corner, and for all the hate that exists in the world, there’s thousands of people that want to know and experience and be a part of our culture,” O’Keefe said. “That’s cool.”