Maryland Business

So, I was checking out the pandemonium next to TDR’s offices Wednesday morning for Gov. William Donald Schaefer’s funeral service at Old St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

Lots of police and lots of citizens lining up to be seated — well before doors opened to the church at 9 a.m. I couldn’t even cross Charles Street without tripping on a microphone cord for TV crews.

While I’m taking it in and leaning against the Tremont Grand hotel, some of its employees come out with four gold-colored, nicely cushioned chairs and lined them up on the sidewalk just next to me. One employee tapes on printed sheets of paper: “Reserved For Art Donovan.” Another employee sets up a velvet rope barricade around the chairs.

So I asked the friendly doorman what the deal was. He said that apparently Art Donovan, of Baltimore Colts defense fame, wanted a reserved outdoor view of the procession. He then asked me if I knew who Art Donovan was, just to make sure. Of course I know who Art Donovan is, he was on Nickelodeon’s Pete and Pete one time!

Kidding. I think almost anyone who’s grown up in Baltimore, even after the Colts left the city, has still seen Donovan if they’ve ever watched a little WJZ.

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Come one, come all (creatures, perhaps).  This weekend will be a good one to head over to Westport Waterfront for the new Cirque du Soleil show, “Totem.”

There will be a 4 p.m. show and an 8 p.m. this Saturday, and a 5 p.m. viewing on Sunday, for the show that will focus all sorts of aesthetically bewildering tricks and performances on the evolution of mankind. Tickets range from $49.50 to $225 for the event.

Another viscerally colorful event going on this weekend is the Baltimore Tattoo Arts Convention, going on Friday, April 8 through Sunday April 10 at the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel. Tickets are $20-$40, and kids 12 and under are free for admission.

There will be plenty of entertainment going on as well, with music by Lazlo Lee and the Motherless Children and burlesque performances by Rigor Mortis Revue. What’s in a name?

And if you’re looking for something more palatable for everybody, there’s the Grilled Cheese Sandwich Cook-Off! (Grilled cheese is worth the exclamation point.) For $10, you get to hang around the Mt. Washington Tavern to watch top chefs and home cooks duke it out over one of the best comfort foods, and then you get to eat their handiwork.

The cheesy goodness starts at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

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On my long commute home to Bethesda last night, I heard a radio advertisement that caught my attention: the Greenbrier resort is offering a new collection of vacation packages on their Web site.

Curiosity arose, and I visited the site this morning to scope out the “deals.”

A signature spa package runs $2,232 for a two nights’ stay, swedish massage, body masks and polish and a “signature” treatment (based on double occupancy).

If you’re a golf lover, a “play in the leaves” package (August through October) includes a two-night stay, unlimited tennis and two rounds of golf for $1,330 (weekend) or $1,230 (weekday).

As a relatively inexperienced traveler, these deals seem vastly overpriced. But, I’ve never stayed at the Greenbrier; maybe it’s a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience worth the splurge.

The world-famous resort, as you know, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March, after years of losses and expensive renovations drove up debts to previous owner CSX Corporation. After an initial $130M deal with Bethesda-based hotel operator Marriott International, local businessman Jim Justice swooped in to purchase the property in early May.

The Greenbrier has lost $90 million in the past five years (including $38 million in 2008 alone), according to the March bankruptcy filing.

The resort received some good news last month when the PGA Tour announced that it would host a PGA tournament at one of its three courses.

Work has already gotten underway to bring casino gambling to the Greenbrier with the hope that it will reverse its financial woes.

Will it be enough to save the historic resort?

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Pimlico Race Course and the Preakness Stakes have finally joined the 21st Century.

A new Web site has launched today, and gone are the cheesy, static designs, now replaced with– among other things — a count down clock, moving graphics and a ton more information.

For example, did you know that during the Civil War the Woodlawn vase (presented to every Preakness winner) was buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery to be kept safe from being stolen and melted down for bullets?

Oh, and there’s also relevant info about parking, dining, menus, etc.

But on a sour note for those who are Infield regulars and still plan on going — despite the new alcohol policy — you’d better hurry up and get your tickets now if you want to lock in on last year’s ticket price of $45 (the online-only advance price available). If you wait until later, that goes up to $50, and if you buy your tickets at Pimlico the day of the race, it’ll run you $60.

Ah, but at least the Web site’s more fun, right?

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When construction began on the city-owned Hilton Convention Center Hotel two years ago, not everyone was gung ho about the new luxury venue.

Street vendors outside Camden Yards were forced to move their stands farther away from the ballpark, fans grumbled about the changed skyline view from the Oriole Park seats and the Orioles sued the city, claiming that hotel construction just outside the main entrance to Camden Yards created “an intolerable hazard for hundreds of thousands of pedestrians” by forcing them into narrow pathways or streets with heavy traffic.

The Orioles dropped the lawsuit soon after, when the two sides agreed that a 25-foot-wide covered walkway would be built next to the construction site on Howard Street to help with pedestrian traffic. But the team still remains tight-lipped on the issue, declining to comment this week on the Hilton Hotel’s completion.

But others around the sports complex are eagerly awaiting the boon they expect the hotel’s presence to bring. A spokeswoman for the Maryland Stadium Authority called the Hilton “our new best friend,” and Michael L. Gibbons, executive director of the Sports Legends Museum, said he’s “downright excited” about the possibilities the Hilton will create for the area and for the museum’s attendance.

“It will create casual pedestrian traffic, more unprecedented than anything we’ve seen around here on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “It will rival what we see on game days.”

The Hilton, which changed Oriole Park fan views of the historic Bromo Seltzer Tower to one that has been referred to by many as an eyesore, has also had some engineering adjustments to help it better fit in with its surrounding area. Designers have matched the brick at the base of the complex and the granite walkway stones to that of Camden Yards’ and have created a sightline from the convention center light rail stop that focuses riders on the ballpark entrance.

Do you think more should have been done to preserve the original view at the ballpark, or does the new hotel give Baltimore more than it takes away? Or do you absolutely hate it and nothing can be done to change your mind?

LIZ FARMER, Business Writer

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Wednesday, the city’s spending panel discussed the authorization of $60,000 to pay the hotel bills for 41 homeless Baltimoreans who have been living in a Quality Inn and 12 more homeless families who were living in the Ramada Inn since mid-December.

They were relocated there from encampments under the JFX because the city said they were creating a fire hazard, and the city’s “Code Blue” shelter had filled up and the weather was getting increasingly cold. They were originally slated to stay only until Jan. 23. The first leg of their stay, from Dec. 14 to Jan. 23, had a price tag of $125,000, which also came from city coffers.

When we here at the Daily Record noticed this item on the Board of Estimates’ meeting agenda, it got us thinking about these two very different, but very important types of developments: homeless shelters and hotels, and we decided to take a look at the numbers.

According to officials at the city’s Homeless Services offices, there are some 60 facilities in Baltimore, most of them run by nonprofits or city social services agencies, that serve the homeless. There are no city-run facilities to serve our roughly 3,000 homeless, but the city does contribute local, state, and federal grant money to these independent facilities.

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Hotelier Stephen Marx says he likes to take some time at the start of each day to gaze at the trees swaying outside of his Greenwich, Conn. home, to take in the expansive blue sky, and to meditate.

“I get up in the morning, I go out on my deck and I sit for 15 minutes and I just try to clear my mind, try to put my troubles away, get myself squared away emotionally, mentally for the day,” he said.

He doesn’t follow any particular spiritual tradition, doesn’t have a mantra or a guru, but Marx says his meditation contributes to his overall happiness and sense of balance.

In addition, Marx works out four times a week, tries to eat healthy foods and is a member of a men’s group that meets periodically to discuss spiritual and emotional matters.

“Sometimes it’s difficult for men to communicate their feelings,” he explained.

All of this is part and parcel of the ideas about wellness and balance espoused by Marx’s brand-new boutique hotel brand, Lifestyle HG, which has announced that it will open its newest franchise at 301 N. Charles St. in Baltimore some time in the next 16-17 months.

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