Building

The Cordish Cos., the Baltimore-based real estate developer that owns and operates Maryland Live Casino, announced Thursday that it has been selected to develop portions of an airport-industrial complex in Alabama. Cordish and its partner JMG Realty, of Mobile, Ala., were chosen by the Mobile Airport Authority to take control of about 215 acres of the Brookley Aeroplex, a 1,700-acre industrial site and home to the Mobile Downtown Airport, Cordish said in a statement. The companies are hammering out an exclusive negotiating agreement with the airport authority, the statement said.

The planned Columbia Association fitness club inside the former Rouse Co. building is being billed as mind-body wellness retreat where customers can "relax, retreat and rejuvenate," according to consultants hired by CA to study the project. "People are saying, 'We need a place to escape,' " said Mark Williamson, principal at ClubIntel, CA's consulting firm. "We came up with that tag line for the club because that's what people want to do. They want to relax, they want to retreat and rejuvenate.

A Forest Hill gas station suffered extensive fire damage after a dirt bike crashed into the building, fire investigators and the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company said. The fire at Forest Hill Exxon, at 2000 Rock Spring Road, was reported at 11:19 p.m., according to a notice of investigation from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office, which said the building was closed at the time. On its Facebook page, the Bel Air VFC posted: "A dirt bike crashed into the building, catching fire and the fire then extended inside.

My colleague, Candy Thomson, recently reported that a study will soon evaluate the structural condition and projected life left in the Bay Bridge, while also considering the possible addition of a third span to accommodate traffic demands that will soar by 2025. The first span that bound the Eastern and Western Shores opened for traffic in 1952. It had been troubled by 45 years of haggling, vanished funding and public debate that was additionally fueled by doubters, controversy, economic downturns and wars.

For years, environmentalists and watermen have been searching for a way to deal with the Chesapeake Bay's "ghost pots" - derelict crab traps that are too deep to retrieve and too problematic to co-exist with marine life. Though the traps have been abandoned, they continue to ensnare and kill crabs. Now two Anne Arundel County high school seniors have developed a possible solution: a trap held together with zinc rings that decay, making abandoned traps fall apart at the bottom of the bay. "Leave it kids to find a great solution for a serious problem," said Tony Friedrich, executive director of the Coastal Conservation Association of Maryland.

The explosion blasted out the windows at Shepherd Electric Supply as pieces of the ceiling rained down and the building groaned. Roger Sampson, an employee, had lived in earthquake-prone Los Angeles for eight years and felt a quake shake Maryland two years ago. But Tuesday afternoon, when a freight train and a truck carrying garbage collided in Rosedale just blocks from the warehouse, was different. Workers in the building in the 7400 block of Pulaski Highway were shaking with fear, Sampson said, and he saw a few of his co-workers bleeding, one from the neck, after being hit by glass.

On Wednesday, Baltimore's Board of Estimates approved a property tax break that would save a typical homeowner $140 a year - good news, to be sure. But that may have failed to impress many Baltimoreans in light of Monday's decision by the city's Board of Finance to endorse $107 million in tax increment financing for the Harbor Point development that is slated to become the eventual Baltimore home of Constellation Energy's new owner, Exelon. The deal, which still would have to be approved by the City Council, reignites an old debate about Baltimore's willingness to cut deals with developers for projects downtown and on the waterfront while still charging residents by far the highest property taxes in the state.

If you live around the BMA, the Walters or the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower, Kanye West is coming to a wall near you Sunday night. Or, at least his image, words and music are. West has been using public walls the last two weeks to promote the "New Slaves" song from his next release, which is expected to be released in June, according to Rolling Stone . Images of West along with his words and music were projected and broadcast last week...

An article in the May 24, 1913, edition of The Argus reported the damage to an area farm due to an early morning fire. A large barrack on the Wilton Farm, Wilkens avenue and Maiden Choice road, George J. Zaiser , owner, was destroyed by fire early Saturday morning, together with 13 head of sheep, 40 tons of hay, several tons of baled straw and a lot of farming implements. The loss will reach about $1,500, covered by insurance. The barking of their collie dog aroused Mr. Zaiser and his family.

Would it surprise you to learn that Fast Company magazine just ranked Maryland the third-most innovative state in the nation? Or that Maryland took the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's No. 1 spot for both innovation and entrepreneurship? It's a fact: In our state's dynamic mix of world-class universities and professional schools, institutes for advanced research, teaching hospitals, think tanks, hubs for start-up businesses and more, there exists this mysterious, economically essential activity known as innovation.