Business

Allison Ceballos says she could see a future making jewelry as a full-time business some day, but it’s just a hobby for now. She has some time to decide, since she’s only 10 years old. For now, she just loves making unique designs for her polymer clay jewelry, crafting earrings and necklaces, and seeing her customers’ reactions when they find an item they like. “I love meeting the people and knowing the unique style of which ones they pick,” she said.

Alef Aeronautics, a SpaceX-backed flying car firm, says it has reached 2,850 preorders for its futuristic electrical vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle. Alef Aeronautics, which is based in San Mateo, California, said preorder numbers recently hit a fresh record after previously reporting 2,500 preorders for its two-seater flying car, the Alef Model A. Customers can access preorders for the Model A online, and to preorder, you have to put down a $150 deposit for the vehicle. Customers can pull the deposit at any time if they want to, so they’re not locked in.

It started with a few co-workers at Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price, who got to know each other because they all had children with autism. Word of their informal support group spread. When the money management firm adopted a disability inclusion strategy last year, the parents formed THRIVE, a group to foster inclusion of people who are neurodiverse — those on the autism spectrum or who process information in an atypical way — or have other disabilities or chronic conditions.

EVAPCO, one of Carroll County’s largest manufacturers, plans to expand in Taneytown for the second time in a decade and create 275 new jobs. The expansion over two years will increase EVAPCO’s employment in the county to more than 840 workers, Gov. Wes Moore said Thursday. The company, which makes commercial heating, air conditioning and refrigeration products, plans to add 45,000 square feet to its global headquarters on Allendale Lane.

FedEx has ended its naming rights agreement to the Washington Commanders stadium in Landover, a venue that had been known as FedEx Field since 1999. The move confirmed Wednesday comes two years prior to the expiration of the current agreement scheduled for 2026, and as the NFL club under new ownership looks for a site on which to build a new stadium that would open later this decade.

COPT Defense Properties’s plan to unload the high-profile Baltimore office towers it so eagerly snapped up in a now-abandoned market strategy will have to wait. The Columbia-based real estate investment trust’s office buildings, like many in Baltimore and beyond, have been battered by a post-pandemic market riddled with office vacancies. COPT’s trophy 100 Light St., a stalwart in Baltimore’s central business district since 1975, lost $6 million in value this past year alone.

Macy’s announced this week it will close 150 stores in the next three years as part of its efforts to accelerate luxury growth, improve the customer experience and expand its other brands, including Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury. In a press statement, Macy’s said that at this time they are not sharing the list of stores slated to close. It is unclear whether the county’s two Macy’s locations–in Westfield Wheaton mall and Westfield Montgomery mall in Bethesda–will be impacted.