Business

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.

Catonsville-based Erickson Senior Living is now the second largest independent living provider in the United States, according to a report published by Argentum, the leading national trade association serving companies that own, operate and support professionally managed senior living communities. Argentum’s 2022 Largest Providers List ranks operators in size by self-reported measures such as number of units and employee head count. In terms of it full portfolio of units including independent living, Erickson is the nation’s fifth largest provider, advancing two spots from seventh last year.

Baltimore-based Merritt Properties Tuesday expanded its reach into the Richmond, Virginia area with the purchase of the Crescent Business Center for $41.3 million. The center in in Ashland, Virginia includes five existing Class A industrial buildings situated on close to 20 acres, as well as an additional nearly 19 acres for new development opportunities for warehouse and distribution space. Merritt acquired the park from Crescent Business Center LC, a Thalhimer Realty Partners, Inc. development. Baltimore-based Merritt Properties expands its commercial real estate footprint into the expanding Richmond, VA, market.

The Chesapeake Lighthouse Foundation has chosen Arundel Overlook, a 68-acre business community located near BWI Airport, as the site of their first elementary school in Anne Arundel County.  The Chesapeake Science Point Charter School campus network includes six schools with STEM-focused curricula. The group signed two full-building leases with St. John Properties, Inc. for 72,120 square feet of combined space at 1503 and 1513 Signature Drive. Initial kindergarten through fifth grade classes are expected to begin at Arundel Overlook in fall 2023 and, at full capacity, approximately 600 students will be enrolled at the campus.

Two days after citywide unrest following Freddie Gray’s death catapulted Baltimore into the national headlines, Bob Jacobson headed to the neighborhood market in Charles Village, saxophone in hand. Outside the store, he and his musician partner, guitarist Michael Spittel, began to play the jazzy trills and Latin rhythms they were known for: swing, samba, Brazilian bossa nova. The cash tips — typically scarce — poured in.