Business

Two real estate firms this week acquired 587 market-rate affordable apartment units in Langley Park, highlighting Prince George’s County’s efforts to preserve housing affordability in an area some fear may begin to gentrify with the advent of the Purple Line. D.C. developer Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners and Nuveen Real Estate, an investment manager for New York City’s TIAA, announced Tuesday they’ve purchased Bedford Station and Victoria Station, utilizing Prince George’s County’s right of first refusal program. Under that policy, 441 units, or three-quarters of those acquired, will have rents capped for households earning no more than 80% of the area median income for 15 years.

Chap Petersen was such a diehard fan of the Burgundy and Gold that the Virginia state senator once co-founded the “Redskins Pride Caucus” to defend the team’s former moniker. And just months ago, the Fairfax Democrat appeared to be one of the main backers of a bill that would help the state provide hundred of millions in public subsidies to fund the team’s next stadium.

Nexstar Media Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NXST) is expanding its local news operations in Greater Washington, bringing together its two area television stations into one Northwest D.C. location and rebranding as D.C. News Now. The Irving, Texas-based company, billed as the largest television station owner in the U.S., said Wednesday it will combine its D.C.-based CW affiliate WDCW-TV (Channel 50) with Hagerstown, Maryland, independent station WDVM-TV (Channel 25) into a new “state-of-the-art newsroom and studio currently under construction” on Wisconsin Avenue.

SharpRank, a Timonium company that evaluates sports betting experts, has raised $2.5 million so far in a seed round. The company plans to use the funding to continue to enhance its data science and technical infrastructure, along with testing how its product meets current market demand. SharpRank began raising money on March 4, and is still in talks with additional investors, which may oversubscribe the round.

Employees at Apple’s store in Towson Town Center have launched a drive to unionize, becoming one of just three Apple store locations and the first in Maryland to announce organizing efforts. The Apple workers there have formed the Coalition of Organized Retail Employees with the backing of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the machinists union said.

It was a little under a year into the pandemic when Julia Clouser, then a part-time employee in the Maryland Institute College of Arts’ Graduate Research Lab, traveled to Utah with her family over Christmas break. “It was one of those COVID vacations where you rent an Airbnb house and don’t leave,” she recalled. Clouser, who is now a graduate admissions counselor at MICA, wanted to isolate for 14 days following her trip in order to protect the lab’s other two employees and the students who picked up equipment and prints from the lab.

People who buy their own health insurance in Maryland may find again that they must pay more next year, likely due to costs from the coronavirus pandemic. The three carriers offering policies on Maryland’s health exchange or directly to consumers under the Affordable Care Act requested rate increases from state insurance regulators averaging 11%.

The Greater Baltimore Committee plans to hire a “public safety advocate” who will track crime statistics, monitor data on prosecutions, and make monthly reports on violent crime in the area. Chair Calvin Butler, a top executive at Exelon, made the announcement Wednesday night at the Greater Baltimore Committee’s annual meeting of regional business, civic and nonprofit leaders at the Renaissance Hotel in Baltimore.

Baltimore Medical System (BMS), the largest Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) system in Maryland, Wednesday announced it was awarded significant grants from two prominent foundations to support the development of its newest community health center in Baltimore. The France-Merrick Foundation has awarded $250,000 and The Middendorf Foundation has awarded $100,000 for the construction of BMS at Yard 56 – a modern, state-of-the art community health center currently being developed on Eastern Avenue in Greektown.