Maryland Business

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.

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The Daily Record’s “Photo of the Day” is a chance for our photographers to capture slices of life in their travels across Maryland. But we know there is much more going on in the state than what their lenses find.

That’s where you come in.

The Daily Record wants your photographs of what’s happening in Maryland for a new feature, “Maryland Moment.” The photo could be related to the news of the day or it could be a shot right outside your window. It can be an action shot (left) or just something very adorable.

You can send us your photos by using the form here. We ask that the photos be of something from the last week or so; we don’t want photos of Fourth of July fireworks in February.

If we like your Maryland Moment, we’ll post it online where our Photo of the Day normally resides and might publish it in the print edition as well.

So happy picture-taking. We can’t wait to see what develops.

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Solar energy company SunEdison announced it will be moving its headquarters to California, and speaking fees for pharmaceutical companies are going down. Those stories and more in this week’s business Top 5.

1. Maryland’s top lobbyists got $15.5M during 2011 session – by Nicholas Sohr

Maryland’s biggest businesses, interest groups and labor unions increased spending on lobbyists to $15.5 million during the 2011 General Assembly session, according to the State Ethics Commission.

That was a 14.4 percent bump over the 2010 session, when the top spenders had $13.5 million in lobbying expenses.

2. Speaking fees declining for pharmaceutical firms – by Ben Mook

The amount of money paid by pharmaceutical firms to physicians and other health professionals to speak about their products seems to be slowing, but a look at 12 companies that disclose those figures shows it still amounts to millions of dollars in Maryland.

A review of the payments reported by eight major pharmaceutical firms including Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Pfizer and Novartis show that in 2010 in Maryland, doctors were paid more than $4 million in speaking fees. This compares to the first half of 2011, when reporting companies paid only $836,330 in speaking fees.

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Following Tuesday’s primary, Baltimore is on its way to sending Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to a second term as mayor, and the announcement of Bank of America’s 30,000 layoffs will surely be felt in Maryland. Those stories and more in this week’s business top 5.

1. Rawlings-Blake says she will be aggressive in Baltimore’s economic development – by Melody Simmons

Hours after her victory in the city’s Democratic primary, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said in a news conference she plans to take aggressive strides in local economic development, including a restructuring of the Baltimore Development Corp.

Rawlings-Blake, 41, defeated five challengers to win the nomination Tuesday with 52 percent of the vote.

“The election is over and for me, the mandate is to move the city forward,” Rawlings-Blake said.

2. Bank of America layoffs to hurt Maryland – by Ben Mook

Bank of America’s plan to shrink its workforce by 10 percent over the next few years will almost certainly have significant effect on Maryland, given the bank’s presence and stature in the state, analysts said.

Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender by assets, will eliminate 30,000 jobs in the next few years as part of Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan’s plan to bolster profit and the company’s stock price. Bank of America is the largest bank in Maryland with roughly 3,900 workers and 20 percent of the market share in the state. The company did not provide details on Monday about where the job cuts would come from or when they would happen.

3. Casino changes upset minority groups – by Nicholas Sohr

A collection of minority groups is protesting changes the state made to requirements for casino developers eyeing the gaming license up for grabs in Baltimore.

Last month, the Video Lottery Facility Location Commission stripped explicit minority business enterprise benchmarks from the request for casino proposals. Instead, the state will work with developers to set goals on a project-by-project basis.

4. Howard executive Ken Ulman running $72M project to connect Maryland – by Nicholas Sohr

While the economic malaise lingers, another recession threatens and trillions in federal budget cuts loom, Ken Ulman finds hope in a warehouse in Elkridge.

There sit spools of fiber-optic cable destined to link public institutions and build the backbone of a network that will bring high-speed Internet service to office buildings and business parks throughout central Maryland.

5. Maryland loses 2,500 jobs in August – by Nicholas Sohr

Maryland lost 2,500 jobs in August and the unemployment rate rose to 7.3 percent, according to figures released Friday morning by the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

The job losses were widespread across private employers, but labor officials blamed much of the decline on the information sector, which lost 4,400 jobs. The now-resolved strike by Verizon workers “disproportionally contributed to job losses in that sector.”

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Maryland endured an earthquake this week, and is getting ready for a hurricane. And all just days before the city of Baltimore is set to host its inaugural Grand Prix. See what stories made the top 5 this week.

1. Earthquake: Baltimore shaken, but not stirred – by Nicholas Sohr

A 5.8 magnitude earthquake sent office workers streaming out of high-rise buildings Tuesday afternoon and clogged Baltimore’s streets with an early rush hour as many decided to call it a day after the tremors began just before 2 p.m.

The quake was centered in Virginia and appeared to cause little damage in Maryland, according to public safety officials. Inspectors scrambled to assess bridges, roads, public buildings, stadiums, tunnels and utility lines.

2. Maryland Mortgage Program rate at record low – by Daily Record Staff

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development said Monday the interest rate for the state’s flagship mortgage financing program, the Maryland Mortgage Program, has dropped to 3.5 percent, the lowest level in its history.

The program is primarily targeted to first-time homebuyers and purchasers of foreclosed and short-sale homes.

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Stephen Strasburg made a bit of a media splash Sunday after a double-header at Municipal Stadium in Hagerstown.

The No. 1 overall draft pick in the 2009 MLB First-Year Player Draft returned to the Washington Nationals’ minor league Class-A team, the Hagerstown Suns, after undergoing reconstructive surgery for a ligament in his elbow last fall.

The first rehabilitative game for Strasburg brought the ballpark’s second largest crowd ever, with 6,758 fans, according to the team’s website. So this season will likely be a hopping one for Hagerstown’s residents and fans.

And just for an update, the other Hagerstown star, Bryce Harper, moved to Double-A Harrisburg Senators in July. His most recent game on Aug. 7 against the Erie SeaWolves drew a little more than 3,000 spectators.

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WBAL’s Mark Miller announced this week that he would be retiring after 32 years and the traffic plans surrounding Baltimore’s Grand Prix race are starting to take shape in the final months before it comes to town. Those stories and more in this week’s business top 5.

1. New restaurant at Chesapeake site should open in a year – by Melody Simmons

Redevelopment of the long-abandoned Chesapeake Restaurant in the Station North Arts District is still on track despite a key restaurateur’s rejection of the $16 million project, city officials said Monday.

Qayum Karzai, who owns the successful Helmand and Tapas Teatro restaurants, has backed out of the partnership and will not open an upscale eatery and market inside the old Chesapeake, located at 1701 N. Charles St.

2. Lawsuit over State Center redevelopment to go forward – by Melody Simmons

A Baltimore City Circuit Court judge cleared the way Wednesday for a legal challenge against the procurement procedures of the proposed $1.5 billion State Center development.

Judge Althea M. Handy denied a motion to dismiss the lawsuit that pits a large group of downtown property owners against state officials and developers in a bitter struggle over the future of the massive development that would occupy eight blocks on the city’s West Side near Martin Luther King Boulevard.

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If you’re seeing @MDBlackBear suddenly becoming active on Twitter these days, it’s for good reason.

Apparently ’tis the season for the state’s black bear hunting lottery, and the Twitter account (created by the Dept. of Natural Resources) has about 800 followers. The DNR is spreading the word that the 2011 hunting permit lottery opened online July 1, and is accepting applicants through Sept. 2.

DNR will issue 260 bear hunting permits this season, with only one black bear to be harvested by a permittee/subpermittee hunting team. More details on the process and the sport itself can be found here.

Kind of a peculiar way to use Twitter, but hey, it’s beary innovative.  (Yes, I did.)

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The town of Ocean City announced Friday it won’t be going forward with a proposed gas promotion.

The town made an announcement on June 3 it was gearing up for a $100,000 free gas promotion, making it the first resort town in the country to do so. The announcement was listed on Ocean City’s website, although it has since been removed.

“After reflection, the council established that gas giveaway promotions in place throughout the local business community are effective and a town-sponsored giveaway would only be of benefit to a small number of visitors,” according to a statement from the town.

Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan said in a statement that the proposed promotion was reconsidered by the city council and many of Ocean City’s free events should be focused in promotional efforts instead.

But that’s not to say visitors can’t get gas card offers through businesses in Ocean City. (Put away your pitchfork and spare Rodney the Lifeguard!) Many incentives are listed on the town’s website, and by checking the “Rodney’s Roadside Assistance” box.

As for those free events (because we all love free things), you can still find them listed here.

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Foreclosures in May rated a 2 percent decrease over April figures, according to data from RealtyTrac released Thursday.

The monthly report by the online realty marketing group stated there were 214,927 foreclosure filings last month in the U.S. – a slight decrease from April and a 33 percent decrease over May 2010 figures.

In total, one in every 605 U.S. housing properties received a foreclosure filing during May 2011, RealtyTrac reported, while also pointing out the weak demand for buying residential units continues from wary and unemployed consumers.

Maryland foreclosures in May totaled 1,799, or one in every 1,301 households. Those figures represent a nearly 20 percent increase over April 2011 figures from RealtyTrac.

The high rates continue to cloud the residential real estate market, experts say, as some lenders are beginning to push bad loans through foreclosure proceedings after controversy over shoddy paperwork and documentation procedures have stalled such moves for nearly a year.

“Foreclosure processing delays continue to mask the true face of the foreclosure situation, although there were some clues in the May numbers of what lies behind that mask,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement.

“First, activity spiked in May for various stages of the foreclosure process in some states, a pattern that has occurred in several states over the past few months. This pattern provides evidence that lenders are somewhat unevenly pushing batches of bad loans through foreclosure as they overhaul their paperwork and documentation procedures and as they determine that some local markets are able to absorb more foreclosure inventory.

Second, while the inventory of properties in the foreclosure process has declined steadily over the past six months — thanks in large part to 16 consecutive months of year-over-year declines in new default notices — the inventory of unsold bank-owned REOs increased in April and May even as new REO activity slowed in both of those months.”

Foreclosure data is compiled by tracking default notices, bank repossessions and scheduled auctions.

There were 89,251 scheduled auctions in the U.S. in May, a 3 percent increase over April 2011. Auctions were prevalent in California, Texas, Virginia and Michigan.

Nevada, Arizona and California posted the top foreclosure rates in the U.S.

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