Business

It may not be a stretch to say that the future will be powered out of Beltsville — and the future will come faster in the U.S. Army. A company called ION Storage Systems, which was invented in a lab at the University of Maryland, is now up and running at its production facility in Beltsville. The company makes what’s known as a solid state battery — with a key component made out of ceramic.

The Cordish Cos.’ Cece’s Roland Park restaurant will open in the coming weeks at the Village of Cross Keys as a $30 million overhaul by owners Caves Valley Partners moves forward. It’s one of six new eateries in the works as part of a redevelopment that started four years ago when the Towson developer acquired the retail and office portion of the North Baltimore landmark for $27 million and pledged a renewal after years of vacancies and neglect.

The proposed redevelopment of the Harford Mall, which is expected to bring 249 new apartments and a four-story parking garage to part of the mall’s parking lot, aims to take a “Bel Air-inspired” approach to its pedestrian streetscape, according to the project’s landscape architect. The project was introduced to the Bel Air Planning Commission last year after the mall’s Tennessee-based owners, CBL Associates and Properties, said the redevelopment is the best investment for the long-term viability of the mall.

MCB Real Estate has launched another project in fast-growing Charles County with a $115 million mixed-use development in Waldorf to be anchored by an expansion of Weis Markets into the area. Officials of the prolific Baltimore developer also planning a redo of Harborplace said they are bullish on the once-rural Southern Maryland county seen as an affordable alternative to the pricy cost of living in Washington, D.C., 30 miles away. At a groundbreaking for The Shops at Fairway Village held Thursday morning, MCB officials said the project, with its 186 apartment units, will help add more housing to the area.

At the 51st annual Maryland Sheep and Wool festival, six teams have three hours to shear a sheep, spin the wool it into yarn, then weave those threads into a showstopping shawl. Inside the fairgrounds, past the sheep show ring, the sheep milk stand, the sheep jewelry artist, the sheep photo display and the barn full of sheep, the fiercest competition in sheepdom has begun. At the 51st annual Maryland Sheep and Wool festival, six teams have three hours to shear a sheep, transform its wool into yards of yarn, then weave those threads into a showstopping shawl.

The Junction, a proposed 179-unit affordable housing project consisting of two buildings on either side of West South Street, could receive property tax breaks and $2 million in city funds after separate votes from Frederick’s aldermen.