Building In Baltimore

Peregrine falcons Felicity and Beauregard are taking care of two new hatchlings on a 33rd-floor ledge of the USF&G building in Baltimore.The 52nd and 53rd eyases born at the USF&G site are a week old. Two other eggs did not hatch.This is the third successful mating season for Felicity and Beauregard, whose offspring have been have been identified as far away as Dayton, Ohio, said John Barber, a USF&G employee and former Smithsonian ornithologist.Endangered 20 years ago, peregrines are returning to thriving numbers.

A large section of brick facade fell off a National Institutes of Health research facility on the Southeast Baltimore campus of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, reviving concerns about a building that opened two years late because of other problems. The incident, in which no one was injured, also has raised questions about safety in a city with many large buildings - but no laws requiring their exterior walls to be inspected as they age. Experts say such problems are relatively rare, but could become more common as building standards change.

The Maryland Institute, College of Art has purchased the former Women's Hospital building in Baltimore's Bolton Hill historic district for $1 million and plans to convert it to a residence hall for about 225 students at an estimated cost of $10 million to $12 million. The sale, made final Thursday, marks a new chapter for the property at 140 W. Lafayette Ave., a blocklong building that has been vacant for seven years and has been the focus of concern about neighborhood blight. "It's a positive development," said George Lavdas, a Bolton Hill resident who has led the effort to find an appropriate owner for the former hospital.

After nearly five years of construction, the most expensive building project in Baltimore history is heading into the final stretch. The Johns Hopkins Hospital has set April 12, 2012, as the dedication date for its new home — a $1 billion clinical building on Orleans Street between Wolfe Street and Broadway. Under construction since June 2006, the building will provide new in-patient facilities for adults and children and serve as the new main entrance to Hopkins' East Baltimore medical campus.

Last year, Dr. Gavin Hamilton lived on the 17th floor of a new building in Baltimore's trendy Harbor East community. This year, the 32-year-old specialist in internal medicine found an apartment he likes even more -- a converted loft in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District. He's so pleased with it, he's throwing an Oscar party to show it off to his friends. "I like the layout and the high ceilings and the way they preserved the industrial feel of the building," he said. Plus, "it's on the route of the Hopkins shuttle and an easy walk to the train station and Tapas Teatro and the Charles Theatre.

Services for Henry C. Evans, a retired superintendent at the state office building in Baltimore, will be at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Immanuel Episcopal Church on Glencoe Road in Glencoe.Mr. Evans, a longtime resident of Lutherville, died Saturday of emphysema at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 76.Born in Ebbw Vale, in Wales, Mr. Evans came to the United States with his family at the age of 8 and lived in Kingston, Pa. He received an engineering degree from Syracuse University and moved to Baltimore after World War II.A mechanical engineer, Mr. Evans oversaw operations at the state office building at 301 W. Preston St. from the time of its initial occupation in 1958 until his retirement in 1976.

Henry C. Evans, 76, a retired superintendent at the state office building in Baltimore, died Saturday of emphysema at Greater Baltimore Medical Center.Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Immanuel Episcopal Church on Glencoe Road in Glencoe.A long-time resident of Lutherville, Mr. Evans was born in Ebbw Vale, Wales. He came to the United States with his family at the age of 8 and lived in Kingston, Pa. He received an engineering degree from Syracuse University and moved to Baltimore after World War II.A mechanical engineer, Mr. Evans oversaw operations at the state office building at 301 W. Preston St. from its opening in 1958 until his retirement in 1976.

Singing mock Christmas carols and chanting through bullhorns, about 100 Towson office workers demanded yesterday that they be relocated from the Investment Building, which they say is undermining their health. They unfurled a "Christmas card" to Gov. Parris N. Glendening, a banner that said, "All we want for Christmas is our health," and said they would send it to Annapolis with a petition signed by 363 people who work in the building. Most work for either Baltimore County or the state.

Plans for a 35-story hotel and office building in Baltimore's downtown received a boost last night when a bill providing a second tax break for the project was introduced in City Council.Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke requested the payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, for the skyscraper that would be built at 1 Light St.The city granted $6.1 million in tax breaks for the project in June, but the developers have been seeking another PILOT that would save them an additional $9.5 million over 10 years.

IT IS EASY to understand why a Washington developer is eager to build the first high-rise apartment building in Baltimore's central business district in more than a decade. The corner of Howard and Lombard streets -- near an expanding University of Maryland campus, Camden Yards and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway -- is in an area where most existing rental complexes are fully occupied with long waiting lists.This project by Quadrangle Development Corp., a big Washington player that has not been previously active in Baltimore, is of bellwether significance for two reasons.

A fire in West Baltimore Sunday night damaged a home and an adjacent structure, city fire officials said. The blaze in the 2500 block of McCulloh St. was extinguished in 15 or 20 minutes, and no injuries were reported, but the roof of an adjacent structure was damaged as well, according to Chief Kevin Cartwright, a city fire spokesman. The cause and origin of the fire is under investigation. tim.wheeler@baltsun.com 0 Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

The call echoed across Blue Mirrors just after 3:30 in the afternoon: "Smoke!" Within seconds, dark clouds choked the bar on The Block, the city's storied red-light district in the heart of downtown. Young women clad in slivers of lingerie grabbed coats and dashed outside, as the first firefighters streamed water onto the blaze that would grow to engulf four buildings on East Baltimore Street. "We were trying to get the girls out as soon as possible without getting any indecent exposure charges," said Jeff Jones, the owner of Blue Mirrors.

Johns Hopkins has completed its purchase of the former Zurich Insurance Co. property in North Baltimore for $15 million and plans to take possession today. Brian Dembeck, executive director of Johns Hopkins Real Estate, said Hopkins plans to begin this spring to modify 415,000 square feet of office space on the property for use by more than 900 Hopkins employees who will move there in phases. He said the renovation would be a multimillion-dollar project, but he didn't give a specific figure.

It has the look of a classic urban parochial school: no-frills architecture, granite walls and stairs pounded by saddle shoes. And now, nearly four decades after the last pupil at what was then St. Ann's School closed a composition notebook, the three-story building at Greenmount Avenue and 22nd Street is being readied to accept a new school. Some of Baltimore's best-known philanthropists and charities - led by Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti and his wife, Renee - have donated $7 million to renovate the building to accommodate Mother Seton Academy, a 15-year-old school now housed in a Fells Point convent.

Last year, Dr. Gavin Hamilton lived on the 17th floor of a new building in Baltimore's trendy Harbor East community. This year, the 32-year-old specialist in internal medicine found an apartment he likes even more -- a converted loft in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District. He's so pleased with it, he's throwing an Oscar party to show it off to his friends. "I like the layout and the high ceilings and the way they preserved the industrial feel of the building," he said. Plus, "it's on the route of the Hopkins shuttle and an easy walk to the train station and Tapas Teatro and the Charles Theatre.

Firefighters battled a two-alarm dwelling fire late last night near Mondawmin Mall that extensively damaged a vacant rowhouse and extended into a bail bond business next door. Occupants of a second adjoining dwelling escaped without injury, said a Fire Department spokesman. Reported about 11 p.m. in the 2400 block of Reisterstown Road, the fire damaged all three floors of the vacant house at 2407 Reisterstown Road and forced the residents of 2405 from their home and into an ambulance, where medics examined them for possible injuries.

RewardsPlus.com, a Baltimore Web-based manager of employee benefits that has grown rapidly since its founding in 1996, is heading to the suburbs for more room - a disappointment to city officials seeking to stem the flow of companies out of downtown. The company will give up about 20,000 square feet it sublets in the Bank of America building on South Charles Street. Employees expect to begin moving in January to the former AAI Corp. building in Baltimore County, where RewardsPlus will occupy about four times that space.

A Washington developer wants to build the first high-rise apartment building in Baltimore's central business district in more than a decade -- a 16-story, 271-unit tower near the $H University of Maryland's rapidly expanding Baltimore campus.Quadrangle Development Corp. of Washington, builder of the Grand Hyatt Hotel at Washington Center, is seeking to acquire city-owned property at the northwest corner of Howard and Lombard streets for the project.Estimated to cost $20 million or more, the building would be Quadrangle's first in Baltimore and reflects the growing strength of the city's apartment market, especially on the west side of downtown.

A small crowd gathered yesterday morning below blue and green maritime-themed murals in the airy but stately Call Room, a two-story pavilion in the center wing of the U.S. Custom House in Baltimore, to celebrate the building's centennial. The event, hosted by the U.S. General Services Administration and Barbara Shelton, the GSA regional administrator, brought several local and national government officials to speak about the importance of the national historic landmark and its contribution to Baltimore's port industry over the past 100 years.

The body of a young man was found yesterday morning in the basement of a Northeast Baltimore apartment building, apparently hours after he was shot to death, city police said. Shortly after 10 a.m., a maintenance man for Maple Glen Apartments in the 6000 block of Amberwood Road found the body near a storage room, said Agent Donny Moses, a police spokesman. He said the victim - whose name was being withheld - suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Residents of the apartment building told investigators of hearing at least one gunshot about 3 a.m., but they did not call police, Moses said, adding that the condition of the body indicated the man had been dead for several hours.