Business

A new program in Prince George’s County aims to help small businesses retain and attract employees by subsidizing workers’ child care costs, but it’s still unclear how the program will be funded. County lawmakers passed legislation on Nov. 14 establishing a grant program through which local businesses can apply for funds that could then be used to allay child care expenses for lower-income employees.

Two nonprofit developers received a key approval from the city’s preservation panel Tuesday afternoon to redevelop a blighted corner into housing on the west side of downtown. The vote by the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation, or CHAP, advances a joint venture by nonprofits Episcopal Housing Corp. and Health Care for the Homeless to build affordable apartments at the intersection of Park Avenue, West Fayette and North Liberty streets.

Space is open for business, and Maryland is now positioned as a player in the space economy. Rocket Lab, a direct competitor of Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, is establishing a footprint in Maryland, moving forward with a facility in Middle River, Baltimore County, at a location that also honors the past. A new aerospace facility is taking shape at an enormous warehouse that has been home to aerospace manufacturing since 1929. A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday was low-tech for a facility that’s about as futuristic as they come.

A city panel told architects behind the $100 million redevelopment of a North Baltimore block to revamp their plans after they presented designs for new apartments, offices and a grocery retailer Thursday. Presenters designing two parcels of MCB Real Estate’s 8-acre Reservoir Square project off North and Park avenues showcased the layout for the project to the city’s Urban Design and Architecture Advisory Panel Thursday afternoon.

Plans to transform downtown Baltimore’s iconic yet faded Harborplace into a mixed-use project faced criticism Thursday from a city panel that asked the developer to step back from a fully formed proposal and analyze alternatives for the high-profile site. MCB Real Estate has proposed demolishing the waterfront shopping anddining pavilions that for decades have symbolized the Inner Harbor attraction and replacing them with four taller, mixed-use buildings, including a conjoined tower with around 900 apartments, one smaller building in a large new park, a two-tier promenade and realigned roadways.

As officials look to grow tourism and special events, members of a resort commission say they want more detail on what is being requested in the fiscal year 2025 budget. During an Ocean City Tourism Commission meeting Monday, Tourism and Business Development Director Tom Perlozzo briefed officials on the upcoming budget process.

Grocery Outlet, a retailer of name-brand consumables and fresh products with more than 450 stores in eight states, opened its first location in the Carroll County marketplace Thursday. Independent owners and operators and Sykesville residents Gregory and Amber Phelps signed a lease with Continental Realty Corporation (CRC) for 22,069 square feet of space within Freedom Village, a nearly 130,000-square-foot neighborhood shopping center at 6300 Georgetown Blvd. in Eldersburg.

Soon, businesses in Baltimore that employ facial recognition software could be required to register with the city and post a sign on the premises notifying patrons. “Facial recognition technology in use,” it would say, under legislation proposed in Baltimore City Council. The signs would warn that entering the establishment amounts to “consenting to your physical appearance being collected, generated or analyzed.”