Mullan Contracting’s effort at high school an award-winner

Recent renovations and an expansion at Milford Mill Academy in Baltimore County have won Mullan Contracting Co. an award from the national trade magazine Engineering News-Record.

Improvements to the school at 3800 Washington Ave., which has more than 1,500 students enrolled in grades 9-12, brought the K-12 Education Award of Merit for the mid-Atlantic. The project by Mullan centered on an addition that included a new gym and classroom space. The 65-year-old school also received new electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems.

“A primary challenge of this multiyear construction project was formulating a schedule that did not interrupt or interfere with the day-to-day activities of the educational institution and accelerating our program when school was not in session,” Joseph Rode, Mullan’s president, said in a statement. “To maintain a completely safe environment for students, faculty members, parents and visitors throughout this process, we implemented proven protocols that our team has perfected at numerous educational and institutional construction settings.”

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Fancy new work digs are now open for lease to such entrepreneurs as consultants, writers and high-tech adventurers at The Charles Village Exchange.

The space is at 2526 St. Paul St. and owned by Eve and Doug Austin, owners of UPD Consulting, who purchased the three-story building last year and have spent several months renovating it.

Of the seven workstations on the top floor, each named after a Baltimore train station, Austin said in a statement: “The goal of The Exchange is to offer what entrepreneurs really want — a quiet and flexible workspace, with thoughtful amenities and top-shelf business resources. That’s what they need to maximize their creativity and productivity.”

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Developers of what will be Foundry Row in Owings Mills recently recorded another milestone in their quest to break ground.

The Baltimore County Office of Administrative Hearings last week approved the project’s development plan by developer Greenberg Gibbons and Vanguard Equities Inc.

The move is another step in the process to build the $140 million Foundry Row, which will have a Wegmans as its anchor tenant. Still pending are more county agencies’ reviews and the building permit process. The development has been a flash point in the community for nearly two years as some residents and Howard Brown, another local developer, have protested its potential traffic and retail congestion. Building permits are potentially on hold if the fight moves into Baltimore County Circuit Court.

In the meantime, Greenberg Gibbons planners say they are pushing ahead with planning. Foundry Row would ultimately have 365,000 square feet of retail space and 60,000 square feet of office space.

The project would be at the 50-acre site of the former Solo Cup plant in Baltimore County, now being demolished.

The goal is to break ground in summer 2014, the developer has said.

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Three public hearings have been scheduled by the City Council’s Land Use Committee and Transportation Committee to address Baltimore’s proposed new zoning legislation:

– Nov. 7, 6:30 p.m., in Levering Hall at the Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus

– Nov. 13, 5 p.m., in the Du Burns Council Chamber at City Hall

– Nov. 20, 2 p.m., also in the Du Burns Council Chamber

TIDBITS: Baltimore County officials announced this week they plan to add more than 1,700 new seats to overcrowded schools in the county’s central and southwestern communities by 2017. … Four new businesses are set to open on Main Street Friday in Bel Air: Main Street Oyster, La Bellezza Boutique, All About Cookies and Divine Divas. … Also set to open Friday as the first retailer in the expansion wing of The Mall in Columbia is Soma Intimates. The lingerie store will operate out of a 2,600-square-foot space. … Groundbreaking for a new contract school of Anne Arundel County Public Schools, Monarch Global Academy, is set for noon on Nov. 4. The school is expected to open in fall 2014 with 474 students in grades K-5. … Capital One Bank recently opened a new branch at 1309 Merritt Blvd. in Dundalk. … Mortgage company Norwich Commercial Group Inc. recently leased 1,209 square feet of office space at 1122 Kenilworth Drive in Towson. Merritt Properties inked the deal. … If you build it, they will come: Spies say the new Samos Greek Island Grill at the city’s Canton Crossing is proving as popular an eatery as the original Samos Restaurant in Greektown.