Business

Truist Bank’s incoming Regional President Evelyn Lee wants to assure the local business community that Baltimore won’t play second fiddle to Washington, D.C., now that the bank is merging the two markets. Lee, a Baltimore native, will take over the Maryland region for Truist (NYSE: TFC) on Oct. 1, leading both the D.C. and Baltimore markets.

A long-vacant space at Pratt and Paca streets near Oriole Park at Camden Yards is getting ready to light up again. A group of local foodies and investors that are also associated with Guilford Hall Brewery in North Baltimore just signed a 10-year deal to open a restaurant, bar and cafe at 511 W. Pratt. The nearly 7,000-square-foot space in the ground level of The Zenith apartment tower once held Frank & Nic’s West End Grille and Restaurant, which closed five years ago and was damaged in 2015 during protests over the death of Freddie Gray in police custody.

Under Armour’s new ‘The Stadium at The House,’ located at the company’s under-construction Baltimore Peninsula campus, is now the home to select Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) sports games. Tonight, Poly and City will have two soccer matches at The Stadium at The House as JV Boys Soccer squares off at 4pm and Varsity Girls Soccer kicks off at 6pm.

Glen Burnie Bancorp, the parent company of the Bank of Glen Burnie, has tapped a banker with more than 30 years of experience to take over the community bank. Mark C. Hanna, who was most recently CEO of Virginia’s Farmers and Merchants (F&M) Bank, will become Glen Burnie’s (Nasdaq: GLBZ) new president and CEO next month. Hanna will take the helm from former CEO John D. Long, who is stepping down from the role after seven years in charge.

For the third consecutive month, Maryland logged the lowest state unemployment rate in the nation. In August the unemployment rate was at 1.7%, down from 1.8% in July and sharply lower than Maryland’s unemployment rate a year earlier of 3.4%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Maryland’s 1.7% unemployment rate is also a record low.

Seven months after pulling the plug on a controversial process to find a company to run the concessions operations at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, the state is trying again. Late Monday, the Maryland Department of Transportation issued a document known as a Request for Proposal, seeking bidders that want to oversee concessions at the state-owned airport for the next two decades.

Federal regulators have not weighed in yet on the proposed $24.6 billion merger between grocery store giants Kroger and Albertsons, but the Maryland Attorney General’s Office wants feedback from Maryland residents. The two chains combined operate 165 stores in the D.C. area. Kroger also owns Harris Teeter. There are no local Albertsons stores, but Albertsons owns Safeway, the second largest grocer in the D.C. region behind Giant.

The Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) and the Baltimore Development Corporation have opened nominations for the 2023 Mayor’s Business Recognition Award, which honors organizations with an active presence in the six-county Baltimore region that have demonstrated significant leadership and service to improve the quality of life in Baltimore. This year, the GBC has revamped the annual awards program to highlight companies and organizations that fall within five new awards categories.