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.”

*****
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.”

*****
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.

*****
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.

In a statement addressing the governor’s State of the State address Wednesday, Valentino, the state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said the average small business spends $10,500 per year, per employee, in order to comply with federal regulations.

“We can only imagine that the state costs mirror federal compliance, and the irony of it is that federal and state regulations are duplicative, or even conflicting,” she said.

O’Malley, who in October issued an executive order for agencies to assess ways to streamline the state’s regulatory processes, reiterated the call in his speech Wednesday.

“This session, we are submitting 750 pages of regulations for you to reform, reduce and remove from the books,” he said.

That equals “more than 150 current state regulations to be repealed and/or streamlined,” according to the governor’s website.

“If the governor’s initiative can reduce the burden in terms of money [spent] and time wasted, we’ll see positive results in the economy,” Valentino said.

Less appealing are the governor’s proposed tax hikes.

“Small businesses and consumers are struggling in this economy, and the governor’s heavy emphasis on higher taxes is disappointing,” she said.

That’s a good thing at the just-reopened tearoom of the Woman’s Industrial Exchange.

Irene Smith, new operator of the landmark Baltimore City restaurant located at 333 N. Charles St., placed a bright oil painting of the tearoom’s former waitresses above the mantle Tuesday. In their starched white aprons and blue uniforms, this legendary crew led by the inimitable Marguerite lends a nostalgic touch to the bright pink walls.

Talk about your welcoming committee!

Smith said business has been steady since the tearoom reopened Dec. 7. Patrons are still sticking with the old house favorite, the chicken salad, deviled egg and tomato aspic platter for $9.

Other menu items include vegetable pot pie, meatloaf and Tina’s mushroom pie with mixed greens — all served with delicious, bite-sized Maryland beaten biscuits.

Even Jacques Kelly, a staff writer at The Baltimore Sun and one of the city’s unofficial historians, has visited and loves the re-do, Smith said.

“We are seeing the old schoolers who are here who were skeptical,” she said. “And there have been lots of kids from Peabody coming in who we love seeing sitting next to the 70-year-old patrons.

“One guy comes in four times a week, orders the chicken pot pie and cleans his plate.”

Besides the new oil painting, by local artist Mark Becker, Smith has supervised other adornments.

The tearoom, open daily from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., is decorated and dedicated to Baltimore icons, cultural leaders and famous daughters. One dessert is dedicated to the two daughters of other local restaurateurs at the Chameleon Café in Lauraville: Fern and Gertie’s vanilla ice cream with chocolate Grenache.

Andy Georgelakos

For the sixth time in seven years, Towson commercial real estate broker KLNB LLC has posted annual leasing income of more than $1 billion, the company reported Monday.

Last year’s $1.2 billion figure was a 10 percent increase over 2010, KLNB executives said. The company leases commercial real estate from five offices that focus on the Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia markets.

The sales figures were the highest mark since the company was founded in 1968 and represented the lease or sale of more than 1,000 transactions covering nearly 9 million square feet of commercial office, industrial, warehouse and retail space.

“Our brokerage team has become increasingly creative with our sales and leasing tactics and this strategy has resulted in the highest transactional value in our nearly 45-year history,” said Andy Georgelakos, managing partner of KLNB. “We envision another strong year ahead as companies and retailers continue to recognize the importance of maintaining a real estate presence in the fourth largest market in the United States.”

KLNB has 77 full-time real estate brokers and is planning to hire four more by March, Georgelakos said.

The 2011 results represent an approximate 10 percent increase from the reported figures of 2010, when KLNB achieved a $1.03 billion leasing and sales transaction volume.

1. Cross Keys sale appears near – by Melody Simmons

The sale of The Village of Cross Keys in North Baltimore to an Olney-based developer is under negotiation and could close as early as March, sources close to the pending deal said Tuesday.

General Growth Properties Inc., which put the upscale shopping center on the market last summer after it emerged from bankruptcy protection, is finalizing the sale to the Carl M. Freeman Companies for an undisclosed price, sources said.

2. AAI lays off 184 in Hunt Valley – by Maria Zimmerman

AAI Corp., a Hunt Valley-based aerospace and defense company, laid off 184 employees Tuesday at its Baltimore County location as part of a 217-person, companywide reduction.

The cuts are affecting all levels of employees across all divisions of AAI and are part of an effort “to become even more cost-competitive in the current environment,” said company spokeswoman Sharon Corona.

3. Maryland’s I-95 travel plazas to be replaced in public-private partnership – by Nicholas Sohr

A Miami-based company will spend $56 million to redesign and rebuild the state’s aging travel plazas on Interstate 95 under a deal approved Monday by the Maryland Transportation Authority.

Under the public-private partnership, or “P3,” the state will continue to own the facilities and expects to collect more than $400 million in revenue from Areas USA MDTP over the course of its 35-year lease.

4. Fundraising success for niche news website Baltimore Brew – by Maria Zilberman

Some days, Fern Shen worried.

In 2009, the 25-year Baltimore resident and former Washington Post and Evening Sun reporter used a financial contribution from a family member to launch Baltimore Brew, a news website that covers greater Baltimore.

Until starting an online fundraising campaign in December through a website called Kickstarter, Shen had sustained the Brew on modest advertising revenue and volunteers.

5. Developer wants $41M PILOT to lure Exelon to the harbor – by Melody Simmons

As Exelon Corp. officials said Thursday they expect to staff the corporation’s newly merged Baltimore organization by late May, the Baltimore Development Corporation board voted on a request for $41 million in tax incentives to help a developer build a potential new headquarters for the energy giant.

The BDC’s board voted in closed session, said President M.J. “Jay” Brodie, who declined to give the outcome of the vote.

The majority were able to find positions within the same store or another one close by, said company spokeswoman Ashley Hardie.

“Same-store sales at Walmart’s namesake U.S. locations declined for nine straight quarters before snapping the streak with a 1.3 percent gain for the quarter ended in October,” according to a report by Bloomberg.

Greeters have been a 32-year tradition at Walmart. The superstore chain has more than 3,000 locations nationwide and 45 stores in Maryland, including 16 Supercenters, which are typically open 24/7.

What do you think — will you miss someone standing at the door when you come in for a midnight snack?

St. John said this week that it plans is to develop a mix of fast food tenants and small retailers and service businesses like hair salons and dry cleaners. The area is blessed with heavy traffic — data shows that more than 40,000 vehicles travel by Timonium Exchange daily. A report by NAI KLNB for the office market shows that the area has more than 7 million square feet of commercial office space, and a vacancy rate of 10 percent.

“This area remains under-served in the convenience retail and quick-serve food categories as consumers and businesspeople are constantly in search of amenities that address their busy lifestyles,” Bill Holzman, assistant vice president for retail leasing at St. John, said in a statement.

St. John also owns and manages Timonium Business Center, Yorkridge Center North and Yorkridge Center South, near the Exchange.

*****

Last week at a community meeting in Columbia, General Growth Properties unveiled plans to build a 75,000-square-foot lifestyle center at the Mall in Columbia. The changes are in the planning phase, and another meeting is set for Feb. 8.

The mall opened in 1971 and has 1.4 million square feet of retail space. The last renovation came in 2004 when an LL Bean store was added. This gussy up will see that store replaced to make way for the new lifestyle center.

*****

The Urban Land Institute will host a forum on Feb. 9 beginning at 4 p.m. at McHenry Row in Locust Point, the city’s new $125 million mixed-use development where new retail is poised to open by the summer.

The institute’s Baltimore Young Leader’s Group has invited local developer Mark Sapperstein to the forum to discuss the project. Sapperstein’s topics will include a look at the past three years of the project from inception to completion, including planning, financing and construction, all during the recession. The Greene Turtle, which recently opened its latest bar and restaurant there, will cater.

When completed, McHenry Row will hold 130,500 square feet of retail space and 65,000 square feet of office space. Leasing is underway for 250 upscale apartment units. Harris Teeter has already opened a 62,000-square-foot store there.

*****

Bethesda-based Beech Street Capital LLC, has provided a $14 million Fannie Mae conventional loan to refinance Woods Edge Apartments in Rockville.

The deal, a 10-year fixed-rate loan, was originated by Meridian Capital Group LLC, and was financed by Beech Street as part of its correspondent relationship with Meridian.
Woods Edge was built in 1965 and has 12 three-story buildings and a total of 162 units.

*****

Tidbits: KBE Building Corp. recently promoted Mike Tighe to director of field operations… Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage has named Todd Ruckle relocation director for the Baltimore area. Ruckle will be responsible for educating Coldwell Banker’s residential sales associates on the value of relocation, as well as form strong business relationships with local and national companies and organizations… Trout Daniel & Associates recently leased a 12,800-square-foot space to That Bounce Place at 12400 Owings Mills Boulevard in the Owings Mills Sportsplex. The business is expected to open within three months.

*****

Foodie Watch: Donna’s Coffee Bar and Café is planning to reopen in the Park Plaza building in Mt. Vernon this spring, co-owner Alan Hirsch said this week. The restaurant and other businesses were gutted after a five-alarm fire ripped through the 109-year-old building in December 2010.