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Top 5: ‘We think we can bring a lot of excitement to this area’
//November 18, 2011
A new Wegmans was announced for Owings Mills and a federal agency might hold up the Constellation/Exelon merger. Meanwhile, a legendary Baltimore Sun photographer’s prints are going to auction — much to his daughter’s chagrin — and plans for a downtown Baltimore casino are finally revealed. Here are the Top 5 business stories of the week:
1. FERC could delay Constellaton-Exelon decision until April — by Ben Mook
Constellation Energy Group Inc. and Exelon Corp. are calling on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to make a decision about the companies’ proposed merger by Jan. 5 after learning the regulatory agency could delay the deal until April.
On Oct. 13, the companies submitted to FERC an agreement they had come to with the independent market monitor for PJM, the regional power grid. The agreement resolved some possible issues the market monitor had. However, FERC said that the agreement effectively reset the clock on its approval process and it could have up to 180 days more to make a decision.
2. Caesars proposes ‘dramatic’ gateway for Baltimore casino — by Nicholas Sohr
The development group led by Caesars Entertainment Corp. touted its proposed 260,000-square foot casino on Russell Street as a “dramatic new gateway to downtown” Baltimore.
The $310 million project, called Harrah’s Baltimore, would include 3,750 slot machines, a high-end steakhouse, a 400-seat buffet and a Baltimore-themed sports bar.
3. Bodine’s daughter unhappy with 7,000 photos for sale — by Mark Miller
The daughter of a former Baltimore Sun photojournalist said she has a “broken heart” over the impending auction of more than 7,000 of his original prints by the newspaper.
The collection of A. Aubrey Bodine’s prints that is to go to auction spans the better part of his nearly 50-year career with The Baltimore Sun. It includes some of Bodine’s most significant photographs, including a picture of the 1959 Major League Baseball All-Star game in Los Angeles’ Memorial Coliseum, pictures of flooding in Ocean City from the 1960s, and numerous views of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge under construction in the 1940s and 1950s.
4. Wegmans to open store at Solo Cup site in Owings Mills — by Melody Simmons
Wegmans Food Market Inc. announced Monday it plans to open a store in Owings Mills at the site of the now shuttered Solo Cup factory.
It will be the second Baltimore County location for the mega grocery and specialty foods store. A Wegmans opened at the Hunt Valley Town Center in Cockeysville in the fall of 2005 with 500 new employees, said Fronda Cohen, a county spokeswoman.
5. Private developers’ tax breaks to come under intense scrutiny — by Melody Simmons
Should financially strapped Baltimore support private development?
That is one of the questions posed by a city task force that studied the practice of granting millions in taxpayer incentives for economic development.
Over the next six months, city leaders will dissect and debate a series of recommendations by the group that has produced the first public debate on the tax increment financing (TIF) and payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) incentives that are given without voter approval and directly impact property tax collections annually.
