By: Robbie Whelan

st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }

/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:”"; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;}

It’s getting to be the dog days of summer, folks, when business-y types would rather hit the beach than sit down with their CPAs for mid-year reports, but here at TDR we’re trying to keep things interesting for the easily distracted. So next Friday, when you return from your July 4th weekend loafing, look out for our Commercial Real Estate focus section, which will appear in the July 10 edition of the paper. In the meantime, here’s what happened in the last 2 weeks

 

* Opus East, the Rockville-based developer that was going to build a massive complex at Aberdeen Proving Ground, first backed out of that project, then filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

 

* Baltimore sold 98 acres it owned in Anne Arundel County to Steve McAllister, a former national head of Greenpeace, so he can build 1,500 condos, apartments and town homes near Curtis Bay Industrial Area. Nearby business owners aren’t happy.

 

*  Venerable Baltimore restaurant the Brass Elephant is for sale. This news comes just a week after the closing of Ixia, a pricey, artsy restaurant in Mt. Vernon, and the news that nearby Neo Veccino will become a sports bar.

 

* The Real Estate Wonk reminds us that Monday was the first day to apply for the Newly Constructed Dwelling Tax Credit, an incentive for Baltimore City homeowners who want to move into some brand-spankin’ new digs.

 

* Rumors abound in the downtown commercial brokerage community about upcoming deals and space-hungry tenants. The BBJ’s got accounting firm RSM McGladrey scouting some space, although one broker told On The Record that they’ve been looking for over a year.

http://baltimore.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2009/06/29/story5.html

* The MTA got $3 million in stimulus bucks to knock down a portion of West Baltimore’s infamous “Highway to Nowhere” and remake it as a parking lot for the to-be-redeveloped West Baltimore MARC train stop, while the city got $17.5 million to weatherize city homes.

* A city judge heard arguments about why he should or should not throw out the city’s reverse-redlining suit against mortgage lender Wells Fargo. A decision on the motion to dimiss is expected shortly. Like, any minute now, actually.

* Sun architecture critic Ed Gunts gets excited about what might become the “Highlandtown Loft District,” a bunch of inter-related development activity in Southeast Baltimore that includes the Highlandtown Middle School conversion, which Montel Williams was this close to spearheading.