A legislative audit has faulted the state Department of Business and Economic Development in four areas, and a sweet shop in Annapolis opened just in time for Valentine’s Day. Those stories and more in this week’s business top 5.

1. Stevenson, Metro Centre plans drive economic activity in Owings Mills – by Melody Simmons

A $500 million development now under way may help spark the final push needed to solidify the economic activity envisioned for Owings Mills when planners designated this northwest Baltimore County corridor as a growth area more than 30 years ago.

From Interstate 795, the area’s skyline is marked with the symbol of the expansion: a towering crane at the construction site of a six-story, 120,000-square-foot structure to house a new public library and branch of the Community College of Baltimore County as part of the Metro Centre at Owings Mills development.

2. Hollywood Diner opens its doors again – by Jon Sham

With a new look, new staff and some new menu items, the Baltimore landmark Hollywood Diner has reopened after being closed during January.

Owner Cheryl Townsend opened the diner last March with hopes of drawing in downtown lunch customers from City Hall, courthouses, Mercy Medical Center and other nearby businesses. But by September, customers were sparse and she considered closing.

3. Annapolis Sweet Shoppe goes for the personal touch – by Jon Sham

“People are missing the connection,” said Susan Leonard, 45, who cut the ribbon at her candy shop on Annapolis Street on Feb. 4., just in time for Valentine’s Day. “We miss the relationship of a store owner. We miss being able to connect when we walk into a store.”

She hopes that small-shop personal connection, the nostalgic, fine artisan and international candies, and the “Willy Wonka imagination” will draw in customers of all ages. The Sweet Shoppe also provides a venue for children’s birthday parties, and Leonard already has several lined up.

4. Legislative audit faults DBED in four areas – by Maria Zilberman

A legislative audit released Tuesday found that the state’s Department of Business and Economic Development was deficient in four areas, including one that was pointed out in a 2008 report.

The Department of Legislative Services started its audit in October 2007 and ended in November 2010.

5. Exelon’s tax break to expire? – by Melody Simmons

As plans move forward for construction of a $120 million office tower for Exelon Corp. at Harbor Point, one of the tax breaks at the 27-acre site is set to expire in mid-June — setting up a possible faceoff between city officials and the developer over its renewal.

The city’s Enterprise Zones expire on June 14, said Mark Vulcan, director of tax incentives for the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, which sets the zones based on income and poverty data from the census every 10 years.

Workers completed the exterior work of the $500 million gaming palace and 8-story parking garage, set to open in June. The topping-off ceremony took place Wednesday at the site, located around back of the mammoth mall off of Route 100 in Hanover.

Developer and owner David Cordish signed his name on a steel beam that was lifted to the building’s crown as part of the completion of the outside work.

By mid-June, officials estimate that 3,000 slot machines and electronic table games will greet patrons at the 300,000-square-foot casino and restaurant space owned and operated by the Cordish Co. of Baltimore. Another 1,750 machines will be added by the fall.

The casino development has been in full swing at the site since Anne Arundel County voters approved the plan in November 2010 on a referendum vote. Plans to build a casino in Baltimore City, roughly 15 miles away at a site near M&T Bank Stadium, are stalled.

Cordish officials say 2,500 workers are helping to build the casino at Arundel Mills and the casino is expected to employ another 1,500 when it opens.

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Saturday in Fulton, homebuilders Miller & Smith will unveil their Fells Point Collection of houses in Howard County’s Maple Lawn during a celebration called “the big reveal.”

The event will begin at 11 a.m. at 7518 Carpenter St. The model home in the spotlight has four bedrooms, 2.5 baths and a two-car garage. Price point is in the $500,000s.

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Hensel Phelps Construction is holding a forum on Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. at the BWI Airport Marriott for sub-contractors interested in bidding on a new security checkpoint project for the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The project will include 60,000 square feet of checkpoint space in a new building and renovations to 115,000 square feet within the terminal itself.

The Airport Marriott is located at 1743 W. Nursery Road in Linthicum Heights.

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The Massachusetts-based Dolben Co. will develop the $40 million Marketplace at Fells Point project after purchasing the rights from the local South Broadway Properties LLC this week.

The website Bmore Media first reported the change.

The development will break ground this spring and will include massive renovations to the 600 block of S. Broadway. Upgrades to the historic Broadway Market buildings will also continue, headed by South Broadway Properties and totaling $5 million.

In all, the redevelopment is expected to take nearly two years and will also include a re-do of the square at the foot of Broadway at Thames Street.

The Marketplace at Fells Point project has been in the works for nearly five years, but the steep recession continuously stalled the plans. The project calls for new retail space and about 160 apartments.

TIDBITS: KBE Building Corp.’s Tyler McIntyre recently achieved a LEED accredited professional building design & construction certification. McIntyre works in the Columbia office …. Merritt Properties recently welcomed vending drink supplier Hong Tu Trading, Inc. to its Kelso business park. The company has leased 2,637 square feet of warehouse space at 3 Nashua Ct. in Baltimore … The Baltimore City Planning Commission has scheduled a hearing on Feb. 23 beginning at 1:30 p.m. to consider legislation needed to amend the current city zoning code. The process has been ongoing for nearly two years, and planning officials say a draft of the new code is in the works, possibly to be ready for public review and hearings this spring.

In her first State of the City address since she was elected to a full term last fall, Rawlings-Blake challenged the City Council to pass legislation raising the bottle tax from two cents to a nickel next year “to be real” about helping to fix many of the city’s decaying schools. Other proposed revenue streams include revenues from slots parlors.  Both would be used to help secure $300 million in bond sales for the construction.

“State budget experts have warned that these financing proposals need more vetting — and so, together we must exercise due diligence,” a draft of Rawlings-Blake’s speech given Monday afternoon at City Hall said.

“The special interests and lobbyists will tell you there’s another way, but they won’t tell you how — they can’t. We need to be real. This is a big problem that requires shared sacrifice. It can’t be fixed with accounting gimmicks. It’s a new tax and its one we need to pass now to invest in our kids and our future.”

The mayor pushed the first bottle tax two years ago amid a bruising fight with the council and city businesses.

In her speech, she also highlighted her plan, unveiled late last year, to increase the city’s population by 10,000 over the next 10 years. She said the city is creating community job hubs in “areas with high unemployment and poverty, fully funding our one-stop career centers and adding year-round job opportunities for young people” and pledged to continue full funding of the Neighborhood Main Streets program as a way to help support small businesses.

A decrease in statistics that track juvenile crime, violent crime and annual homicides was noteworthy, she said, but nothing to venerate.

“It is not time to celebrate — absolutely not,” Rawlings-Blake said. “But it is also not a time for cynicism. It’s time to acknowledge that Baltimore is becoming safer for families — it’s time to believe in a safer city and to work even harder because we know the progress is real.”

Rawlings-Blake said that even though she has presided over $120 million in budget cuts since she took over two years ago, tight fiscal restraints because of the ongoing recession are forcing more cuts and even tax increases as the city’s budget process begins in the early spring.

She focused on public safety and the attempts to fix up the schools as major goals.

“We have identified three new funding streams — including the bottle tax — that will begin to add $23 million annually to the school construction budget by July of next year,” Rawlings-Blake said. “The plan, which will be on your desks at the next meeting, will increase the city’s contribution to school construction by 140 percent — the largest city increase ever proposed in Baltimore’s modern times.

“The combined package could inject $300 million in bond proceeds into city school construction and renovation,” she said. “This is a big bump-up for our schools, and it’s real.”

The mayor pledged that the city will fully fund its commitment to public schools “despite a third straight year of budget deficits.”

(File photo)

The group released a statement from the North Pole on Monday afternoon officially declaring Kegasus, Lord of the InfieldFest at the Preakness, is missing.

Organizers of the event hinted at similar concerns earlier this month when they announced this year’s musical headliners, but skirted the question of the return of the centaur.

(As far as advertising campaigns go, this one seems to be on target with organizers’ desire to attract a younger, hipper crowd. It also avoids the fear of Jimmy Learned, president of Elevation Ltd., the advertising company that has been running the Preakness’ campaigns for the last two years: “doing vanilla work.”)

The Leprechaun and The Easter Bunny have launched campaigns to claim Kegasus’ title, much to the dismay of the council, which forbids members “from performing the duties of another member,” according to the statement.

“The IBOMC plans to convene an emergency board meeting to review its bylaws concerning the matter,” the brotherhood said.

No date for the meeting was announced.

1. Lawsuit filed to void state lab construction contract at EBDI – by Melody Simmons

A lawsuit seeking to void the $170 million construction contract awarded for a new state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene lab at the East Baltimore Development Inc. site was filed Monday as plaintiffs charge that the contract was awarded to Turner Construction Co. without competitive bidding.

The 82-page suit was filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court against the state Department of General Services, DGS Assistant Secretary Michael Gaines, the Maryland Economic Development Corp., Forest City-New East Baltimore Partnership LLC and Turner Construction by Arnold M. Jolivet, his wife, JoAnn, the Maryland Minority Contractors Association Inc., and JCM Control Systems Inc., a minority-owned business based in Baltimore County. Jolivet is managing director of the contractors association.

2. Exelon’s $250M Harbor Point project to include retail and residences – by Melody Simmons

Exelon Corp.’s new building on the city’s waterfront in Harbor Point will be part of a $250 million development and will attract about 4,500 permanent jobs, company officials said Wednesday.

Details of the project were unveiled Wednesday by Exelon executives and the developer, Harbor East Development Group LLC, less than a week after the energy giant announced it planned to build a tower reaching up to 20 stories on a 27-acre tract that once held the AlliedSignal chemical plant.

3. Changes to Harbor Point TIF district proposed – by Melody Simmons

In the wake of Exelon Corp.’s decision to locate its Baltimore headquarters at Harbor Point, the city’s development agency is seeking to fast-track consideration of broadening the scope of a 27-acre tax increment financing district there approved a year ago.

The move is part of sweeping changes proposed for Harbor Point that include the $120 million building and a new roadway and bridge crossing over Central Avenue and linking the now cobblestone street to the headquarters, Baltimore Development Corp. officials said Friday.

4. McCormick to launch first retail store at Inner Harbor – by Maria Zilberman

Sparks-based McCormick and Co. Inc. is venturing into retail, launching its first store this summer in the Light Street Pavilion at Harborplace.

The “McCormick World of Flavors” 3,800-plus square foot-center will showcase the company’s products as well as hold cooking demonstrations by McCormick’s chefs and celebrity chefs using the firm’s products. There will be a gift shop and interactive family activities, such as finding your personal flavor profile and tracking the origin of spices.

5. TIF use could grow in Maryland with new legislation – by Melody Simmons

Legislation to expand the use of tax increment financing in certain growth areas of the state is expected to be introduced in the General Assembly next week, according to Jon Laria, chair of the Maryland Sustainable Growth Commission.

During a hearing before the House Environmental Matters Committee on Tuesday, Laria said the bill would allow for “more tools in the toolkit” to attract development and help promote smart growth with TIFs.

The mall has been a gathering place in north Baltimore since 1971 and has ebbed and flowed with several eateries, boutiques and shops over the years. Today it is nearly vacant.

Plans unveiled five years ago to pump $70 million into the site to redevelop it into a mixed-use space to include a hotel, expanded retail and office space, 302 apartments, 12 townhomes and 44 condominiums stalled. Now comes word that Giant is clearing out its shelves and moving on.

The future of the food store has kept the Rotunda’s owners, New Jersey-based Hekemian & Co., on hold for years, said Chris Bell, senior vice president for development.

Bell said Giant has been in limbo to remain at the site since 2009 — even as plans were underway to expand the size of the store there from 35,000 square feet to 70,000 square feet.

“We have been sitting on our hands since then waiting for Giant,” Bell said Friday.

What is the status of the changes at Rotunda today?

“It’s on more than ever,” he said. “The response we’re getting from the real estate community and the citizen community is excellent. We’ve heard from every major brokerage house, wanting to know when we are going to put our tenant mix together. We are starting the process to redo the program right now.”

City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke’s office said a community meeting is being planned in the next month to discuss the future of the development Hekemian reps.

“There have been a ton of calls,” said Jermaine Johnson, an aide to Clarke. “Most of them are of the sentiment that now that Giant is leaving, what can be done? They think it could bring in new life here. I don’t think people are distressed.”

Johnson said many are talking up an idea to lobby Trader Joe’s to locate a store in the old Giant site, bringing the grocer’s eclectic and affordable offerings closer to Hampdenites and Roland Parkers.

“That seems to be the fan favorite,” Johnson said, of the calls to City Hall.

Johns Hopkins University, which purchased the former Zurich insurance office complex located next door, is not interested in adding the Rotunda to its real estate holdings.

Spokeswoman Tracey Reeves said this week that is simply not in the institution’s future.

“Johns Hopkins has not purchased the Rotunda nor are we interested in buying it,” Reeves said in an email.

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KLNB Retail will be the sales broker for the proposed Aberdeen Station, a retail center now on the drawing board for a site near the Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Harford County’s latest commercial strip is expected to have four to six free-standing retailers using 70,000 square feet of space. The merchandising mix is expected to include a food store, convenience store/fuel station, bank and sit-down restaurants. Developer Frankel Properties expects to break ground on the project this year for a 2013 target completion date.

Aberdeen Station will be located on 10 acres on Route 40 near the Route 715 intersection.

“Retail development in the Aberdeen Proving Ground marketplace has not kept pace with the accelerated growth of Class A commercial office space over the past several years and the resultant influx of new employees to the region,” said Patrick A.M. Miller, a principal at KLNB. “The 2.5 million-square-foot APG Command Center was completed last fall, and a multitude of developers have delivered and leased several million square feet of additional space both within and just outside the gates of Aberdeen Proving Ground over the past several years. The immediate marketplace remains underserved for day-to-day retail amenities including various restaurant concepts, soft and hard goods and basic amenities.”

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This week, the Board of Public Works voted to rename the Jeffrey Building at 16 Francis Street in Annapolis in honor of Fred L. Wineland, a former state delegate and senator and secretary of state from Prince George’s County.

The Jeffrey Building was built in 1965 and is home today to the state’s Department of Planning, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security.

Wineland was a World War II veteran and served in the Pacific. He was secretary of state for Maryland from 1971 to 1982 and also served on the Maryland Port Commission.

“Fred Wineland served Maryland for more than 40 years in elected and appointed capacities with the highest degree of ethics and concern for Marylanders’ well-being,” said Department of General Services Secretary Alvin C. Collins. “In view of Mr. Wineland’s service and dedication, it is wonderful that the Board of Public Works has voted to bestow this honor on such an outstanding citizen.”

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Movie goers will revel in the news this week that the historic Senator Theatre is moving forward with its renovations, thanks to a $300,000 state tax credit.

Look for the Art Deco theater on York Road to add two screens, a wine bar and new seating in the big house that will now hold 600 seats. The upgrades will be complete renovations to the theater

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TIDBITS: The Mall in Columbia announced this week a new Sketchers sneakers and casual shoes store will open there in May …  Everyman Theatre officials say they are continuing efforts to raise money to help pay for the new house at 315 W. Fayette St., now under renovation and construction … Yet another corner drug store? A new Walgreens will be dedicated in Towson on Feb. 24 at 10 a.m. at 939 York Rd.

That’s good news for Marylanders, who are awaiting the opening of a Wegmans in Columbia in June, with additional plans for a store in Owings Mills.

“When Wegmans Food Markets has to eliminate a position, they make sure they find the displaced employee another job that they will be passionate about within the company,” the report said.

“When their Britton Road store in Rochester, N.Y. closed last summer, they offered all of the store’s employees a job at another location in the same city. Within two weeks, all 250 employees from the Britton Road store knew exactly what they were going to be doing.”

The Rochester, N.Y.-based chain opened a store in Hunt Valley in 2005 and another in Abingdon in mid-September. There are also locations in Lanham and Frederick.

The two prizes are part of a contest announced at last Saturday’s men’s basketball game, when the Terps got a video message from actor Kevin Bacon.

The university has teamed up with the film star for the “Do Good Challenge,” aimed at encouraging students to engage in philanthropy.

“What we’re trying to do here is get a lot of people out doing good, and to promote giving and make a difference at the same time,” said Robert Grimm, who is directing the challenge and also directs the University’s Philanthropy and Nonprofit Management program.

Eleven groups registered in the first 48 hours, Grimm said.

Students can start their own projects, work with an existing student group, or work with a nonprofit.

“I want to see how you can use your creativity to encourage social change,” Bacon said in his video message.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Students have until March 26 to submit a statement explaining the impact they’ve had and what they’ve learned.

The university is assembling a panel to judge the projects based on who has done “the most good.” Part of that will mean who has harnessed social media most effectively.

“Social networking is an important part of achieving an impact for any cause that you care about and we are also very interested in how young people are using social media to make a difference for their cause,” Grimm said. “We also know that for college students, social media is how they interact, socialize and mobilize, in many ways.”

Bacon and a panel of celebrity judges will come to campus April 18 to pick the winner from the top six teams.

The competition is run by the University of Maryland’s Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership Program, based in the School of Public Policy, in partnership with SixDegrees, Network for Good, Motorola Mobility Foundation and the College Park Foundation Colonnade Society.

As far as the private jet and courtside seats prize-pack, Grimm said students “can choose to take that, or we will work with them to auction it off.”

Exelon Corp. selected the spot for its new headquarters in Baltimore pending its takeover of Constellation Energy, and Giant Foods is taking over some Fresh and Green’s supermarket locations. Those stories and more in this week’s business top 5.

1. Exelon picks Harbor Point for Baltimore HQ – by Melody Simmons and Maria Zilberman

In the end, it came down to the bottom line.

Exelon Corp.’s selection of a potential $120 million Baltimore headquarters site for Constellation Energy Group in Harbor Point was made in part because the property already had lucrative developer tax breaks attached to it, observers say.

The Chicago-based energy giant announced Wednesday that the property, located between Fells Point and Harbor East, was picked for its “proximity to the downtown waterfront, the ability to accommodate 300,000 to 370,000 rentable square feet, a trading floor size of at least 70,000 square feet, office floor size of approximately 30,000 square feet and availability for occupancy in 2014.”

2. O’Malley supports applying sales tax to gasoline – by Nicholas Sohr

Gov. Martin O’Malley outlined a proposal on Monday to apply Maryland’s sales tax to gasoline, calling it the “best option” to boost spending on roads, bridges, rail lines and other transportation projects.

The 6 percent sales tax would be phased in evenly over three years and, when fully implemented, yield an estimated $613 million a year for the state.

3. Habitat for Humanity helping McElderry Park – by Melody Simmons

When she bought her three-bedroom row house last July, Deborah Brown said, she felt a sense of accomplishment.

The 46-year-old mother of four had rented for years but embraced the prospect of buying one of nearly 75 houses identified for renewal or rehabbed in Baltimore’s McElderry Park by Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake.

4. Lt. Gov. Brown leading state’s effort to make public-private partnerships common – by Nicholas Sohr

As lawmakers prepare to consider tax hikes to pay for transportation projects, Maryland’s lieutenant governor is directing an effort to pump private dollars directly into state roads, bridges and rail lines and the port and airport.

The administration’s General Assembly agenda, heavy on bills and spending designed to spur construction hiring, includes legislation that would make public-private partnerships, or P3s, a common financing arrangement for state infrastructure.

5. Giant acquires two Fresh & Green’s stores in area – by Melody Simmons

Baltimore’s grocery store merry-go-round continues.

Two Fresh & Green’s grocery stores that opened in former Superfresh locations last year after that market closed are being converted to Giant Food stores, the Landover-based grocery announced Friday.

Giant this week signed an agreement with Mrs. Green’s Management Corp. to acquire the company’s supermarket locations in Hampden, at 1020 W. 41st St., and in Parkville, at 7709 Harford Rd.

The address in ruins was in the 800 block of E. Preston Street, just south of the historic Greenmount Cemetery. It was part of a $5.3 million rehab project of scattered vacant houses in the community, funded mostly with federal stimulus money. Mi Casa, a Washington-based nonprofit, is the developer of the project.

Thursday, what’s left of the house littered the site, with nail-studded beams loosely hanging in a perilous position from the top story, aimed at the sidewalk below.

What exactly happened, though, is in dispute.

Top city housing officials including Commissioner Paul T. Graziano said Wednesday they did not know of the collapse of the structure.

Graziano’s spokesperson, Cheron Porter, said in an emailed statement Thursday: “Mi Casa’s end of group structure at 818 E Preston completely collapsed. It is fenced off and the debris is contained on site. They had permits, and it seems they were onsite and handled the incident themselves. They have not taken any additional action (re: new permits to reconstruct). The go forward issues are not principally code enforcement ones. They will have to appropriately permit the rebuild, or the razing of the foundation.”

A neighbor across the street on Thursday described how the rowhouse “just collapsed” one day last month, sending a loud boom across the community.

The insurance adjuster, said he was informed that the house had collapsed on Jan. 20, “and thank God, no one was in it or near it.” It went unreported for a couple of weeks, he added.

Elin Zurbrigg, deputy director of Mi Casa, said on Thursday “it was demolished” because the side wall was unstable.

Either way, the debris is piled high and creates an eyesore as well as a public safety hazard. As that block is undergoing a rehabilitation of 12  houses — including the one that fell — at a cost to taxpayers of roughly $270,000 each, Zurbrigg said the goal is to have new homeowners living there by summer.

“There was some collapse that happened during the demolition process,” she said Thursday. “But it was safe and contained.”

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This week, Saint Agnes Hospital leased 33,000 square feet at Lansdowne Station, a mixed-use project in Baltimore County that has more than 500,000 square feet of retail and office space. The hospital plans to staff the site with 150 employees by this spring.

The new medical offices, located at 3585 Washington Boulevard, will house members of the hospital’s healthcare planning, marketing, finance and physician administration teams who now work at a site on Koppers Street about a mile away.

“Attracting Saint Agnes Hospital to Lansdowne Station represents a significant win for the surrounding community, as well as current retail tenants of the project,” said Howard Brown, chairman of David S. Brown Enterprises Ltd., manager of Lansdowne Station. “The daily influx of daytime workers will create tremendous sales opportunities for area retailers, specifically service-related uses and restaurants. The successful leasing of the office component verifies our belief and vision of the viability of Lansdowne Station as a work-play environment that satisfies a variety of needs.”

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This Monday at 2 p.m., Sen. Ben Cardin will visit Clifton Mansion on the city’s northeast side to detail legislation that would expand tax breaks for restoring historic properties.

The 19th century mansion located in Clifton Park, once the summer home of Johns Hopkins, is now part of a golf course and headquarters to AmeriCorps’ Civic Works program, is a prime example: The manor is about to undergo a $7 million renovation that will employ 150 in the process.

Cardin’s bill, the Creating American Prosperity through Preservation Act, would expand the historic tax credit program to smaller restoration projects. It would also encourage greater use of energy-efficient improvements in historic preservation.

Overall, the federal historic tax credit program has leveraged more than $90 billion of private-sector investment to preserve and rehab more than 37,000 historic properties since 1976. The program has created more than two million jobs nationwide since 1978, Cardin said, and 18,700 jobs were created through historic preservation in Maryland from 2001 to 2011.

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Pass the Grey Poupon. McDaniel College is celebrating the groundbreaking of a new stadium.

After the Westminster college was named one of the top 10 tailgating schools in the nation by The Weather Channel last October, what else could administrators there do?

The new digs will still allow for “drive-in” tailgating and retain the bowl-like setting. Features including new restrooms, concessions, a filming area and reception rooms for fans and teams so those who attend from the Green Terror Nation can root in style.

Funding for the new stadium has come from private donations, college officials said.

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Foodie Watch: Woodbury Kitchen owners Spike and Amy Gjerde plan to open a coffee shop in Union Mill this spring. The Gjerdes also plan to soon open a casual restaurant in Hampden to seat 75. It will be called Half Acre… Christopher Spann, owner of the successful Wine Market in once working-class Locust Point, has changed his menu to include a new slew of upscale delights. Among the gourmet tastings Chef Andrew Weizirl is offering are pan roasted wagyu sirloin, braised celery, oxtail and port wine jam, sweet potato soup, cider steamed mussels, salmon tartare and crispy Brussels sprouts.