Building

The Charles L. Benton Jr. Building remained closed today after gasoline fumes wafted from the basement of the downtown building that houses 1,200 city employees.Yesterday, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke sent workers home at noon after many complained of the fumes at the building at 417 E. Fayette St.Investigators believe the fumes may have been forced into the building by nearby construction of the Metro extension from Charles Center to Johns Hopkins Hospital.A spokesman for the state Department of the Environment said the fumes, identified as "weathered gasoline," are trapped below the basement.

There was order in Howard County District Court yesterday morning despite a bomb threat that cleared the Ellicott City building for about an hour and a half.A male caller reached the court's criminal clerk division about 9 a.m. and warned that there was a bomb in the building police said.The building was evacuated, and dogs from the sheriff and the Baltimore County police searched the building. They found no explosives, and the building was reopened about 10: 30 a.m."We take every bomb threat seriously, but it appears that this was a hoax, and that's how we have to look at it," said police spokesman Steven Keller.

Merrill Lynch & Co. will move its Baltimore office to the IBM-T. Rowe Price building at 100 E. Pratt St. in the first major lease to come to the newly expanded building since 1990.W. C. Pinkard & Co., the brokerage that holds the listing on the building, said the 630,000-square-foot building will now be 70 percent leased. The 300,000-square-foot addition is just over 50 percent leased, much of it to International Business Machines Corp. and T. Rowe Price Associates Inc., which are partners in the building.

The Building Owners and Managers Association of Baltimore yesterday announced its 1995 Building of the Year award winners, presented annually to properties that excel in management procedures such as general maintenance and administration.In the category covering downtown buildings, a 25-story skyscraper at 120 E. Baltimore St. took top honors. The 327,000-square-foot former Bank of Baltimore headquarters is managed by Manekin Corp.The five-story, 125,000-square-foot Tower Federal Building in Laurel, managed and owned by Rhode Island-based Gilbane Properties Inc., won BOMA's award in the suburban class.

Developers of a new 82,000 square-foot office-retail building on Dobbin Road in Columbia are gambling that Howard County's depressed office leasing market will rebound by the time the building opens next spring.Linden Associates Inc., a Baltimore-based developer, is putting up one of the few speculative office buildings to be constructed in Columbia in several years."We went to several banks [to look for financing] and said, 'Are we nuts?' and they said no, you're not," said Christopher W. Kurz, president of Baltimore-based real estate company, Linden Associates Inc.Construction of the two-story Lakeside building, on 7.9 acres in the Columbia Corporate Park, is due to start this fall.

The Harford County administration wants to demolish the vacant former Carey Tire Co. building at Main Street and Churchville Road because it has not been used in two years and is beyond repair.The county bought the half-acre site last year for $466,500 from James F. Knott, a Towson-based developer.At that time, the county said it would repair the roof and use the cinder-block building for storage.The cream and brown building was long considered an eyesore. Last winter, the county removed an unsightly roof overhang that extended over the sidewalk and gave the building the look of a backwoods railway station.

A natural gas release caused by workers repairing a rooftop heating unit briefly interrupted business yesterday at Winchester Exchange in Westminster.Richard Dannenfelser, construction supervisor for David Max Realty, the building's owner, said the gas was released as gas lines were being cleared of air after repairs had been made to the heating unit. The odor of natural gas filtered back through the heating unit and into the building, he said.Dannenfelser, who was in the building about 9: 10 a.m., smelled the gas and shut off the main supply line to the building before firefighters from Westminster and Reese arrived to clear the air with fans within about 15 minutes.

The Odorite building, a two-story structure that the University of Baltimore's president wanted to raze to make way for a parking lot, will be saved from the wrecker's ball at the insistence of Gov. William Donald Schaefer."

HQ has never been OK.Ever since it was built more than 20 years ago, the Baltimore Police Department's headquarters on East Fayette Street has had its problems: asbestos, poor ventilation, elevators that don't go to the top floor, a bold exterior that seems to tell visitors "Go away."The city is trying to fix it. Yesterday, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, NTC Police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier and other dignitaries donned hard hats, grabbed shovels and broke ground for a five-story addition. The project is expected to cost $32 million and take three years to finish.

The building at Annapolis' worst drug corner is battered and abandoned, riddled with bullet holes and filled with dead roaches. But for the Clay Street community, the two-story brick Butterworth Building is not a lost cause.By April 1, the city will put a police substation in the building at Clay and West Washington streets. Community activists hope to turn the building into a neighborhood outreach center.The Clay Street Improvement Association is working with the city's Planning and Zoning Department to tap government loans so that it can set up shop in the building.