Charles St

The city intends to auction a knot of converted row homes on North Charles Street today to satisfy a delinquent $500,000 mortgage, the first such event in recent history involving an entire commercial block.The six older commercial and apartment buildings stretching from 1204 N. Charles St. to 1301 N. Charles St., which will be sold as a package, are scheduled for auction as the result of a foreclosure suit filed by the city against the Queen Anne-Belvedere Association.The city filed the suit after the association defaulted on a $500,000 mortgage dating back to 1979.

One of the most appealing things about liquor is its ability to absorb flavors. Whether bacon, fruit or oak, the process of infusion can make any run-of-the-mill vodka a taste sensation, given the right proportions and enough time. While leather-infused bourbon may seem like an unapproachable or acquired taste (it does exist, for the record), you can never go wrong with a good old fashioned fruit infusion. Many drinkeries around the Baltimore area have their own varieties. In Federal Hill, Mother's Grille has the Summertime Infusion.

The Downtown Partnership said yesterday that it would move its headquarters to 217 N. Charles St., leasing part of a building that was sold yesterday to local investors by a North Carolina bank.The partnership, the non-profit management agency for the downtown district, would move from 330 N. Charles St. in two phases, spokesman Brian Lewbart said. The agency's move is expected to be completed by March 1.The 102-year old building, purchased yesterday by a group led ** by Reisterstown-based Rock Realty, was sold by a unit of NationsBank Corp.

Every spring, the Maryland Film Festival takes over Station North, drawing thousands to the Charles Theatre and nearby blocks. Since 2008, a smaller, more experimental video exhibit has run the same weekend inside the Metro Gallery - across the street from the Charles. Called Videopolis, it showcases features which don't meet traditional formats, according to 35-year-old curator Guy Werner. We caught up with Werner, who is married to Metro Gallery founder Sarah M. Werner, and talked about RVs and old TVs. Worst pet peeve?

A woman who was fatally injured Wednesday after the car she was driving on Charles Street crashed into the rear of another vehicle was identified yesterday by city police as a 71-year-old Baltimore County resident. Eloise Weatherly of the 6400 block of Pratt Ave. in Murray Hill was driving a 1996 Honda Civic north in the 4600 block of N. Charles St. about 11:45 a.m. when her car struck the rear of a Volvo stopped for a traffic signal near Blythewood Road, said Officer Barry Irwin, a traffic investigator.

The city liquor board voted yesterday to suspend the liquor license of Rootie Kazootie's, a Charles Village restaurant and pub, for 10 days as a result of police citations issued to minors for drinking violations. Liquor commissioners, however, opted last night not to act on a community petition, which listed complaints that the pub -- in the 2700 block of N. Charles St. -- was creating a nuisance in the neighborhood. The board said the allegations were not specific enough. In addition to the mandatory 10-day suspension, the owners of Rootie Kazootie's -- Vincent A. Arosemena and his son, Vincent Arosemena -- were given a choice of a 30-day liquor-license suspension or a $3,000 fine for the violations.

City officials, armed with the power of condemnation, are moving to breathe new life into the former Chesapeake Restaurant and other long-vacant properties at the gateway to the Charles North neighborhood, part of the city's arts district near Penn Station and the Charles Theater. Baltimore Development Corp. said yesterday that it is seeking proposals from developers to transform the former landmark restaurant at 1701-1709 N. Charles St., a parking lot and two vacant townhouses around the corner on East Lanvale Street.

American Financial Realty Trust said yesterday that it bought the downtown Baltimore office tower at 100 S. Charles St. as part of a $338 million package deal for 14 office buildings leased to the Bank of America The 17-story Baltimore building, at Lombard and Charles streets, and the other buildings in seven states were sold by a subsidiary of Dana Commercial Credit Corp. "This transaction is the fourth acquisition of properties involving a major financial institution that we have completed since our funding as a private REIT in September 2002.

The chairman of Baltimore's liquor board vowed this week to crack down on Charles Street establishments where officials have found repeated instances of illegal drinking and locking of exit doors. Leonard R. Skolnik, the chairman, was responding to an article Aug. 3 in The Sun describing the impact of Club Choices and Trip's Place on the area. Neighbors say a crowd that lingers outside until dawn on the weekend brings noise, traffic, garbage and crime and undermines redevelopment goals in the city's fledgling arts and entertainment district.

ONE YEAR after Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke announced his strong support for a city initiative to help property owners convert aging downtown office buildings into housing, the first such project might be at the northwest corner of Charles and Saratoga streets.Developer Betty Jean Murphy said this week that she has reached agreement with the city on plans to convert the former YMCA building at 300 N. Charles St. into a 36-unit apartment complex with commercial space at street level."The city has made a commitment" to support the project, Murphy said Monday.

A one-vehicle collision in Anne Arundel County on the Baltimore Washington Parkway South at MD 32 has closed one of two southbound traffic lanes and one of two southbound shoulders at 7:53 a.m., according to the state Department of Transportation. The Baltimore City Department of Transportation said that new traffic patterns will be implemented along a portion of Charles Street on Monday as the city undergoes the Phase I Detour of its Charles Street Reconstruction Project. The transportation authority said that northbound Charles Street from 28th Street to University Parkway will be open only for local traffic and emergency vehicles.

Richard F. Ober, a retired lawyer and insurance company executive who enjoyed sailing the Chesapeake Bay, died April 13 from vascular disease at the Blakehurst retirement community in Towson. He was 98. The son of a lawyer and a homemaker, Richard Francis Ober was born in Baltimore and raised on St. George's Road in Roland Park. After graduating from Gilman School in 1933, he earned a bachelor's degree in 1937 from Princeton University and his law degree in 1939 from Harvard Law School.

Beginning this Saturday, the Tremont Grand Historic Venue will host a murder mystery dinner on the last Saturday of every month. The interactive mysteries will be staged by Do or Die Mysteries, which has been producing murder mystery events for the past 20 years in the Baltimore-Washington area. The kick-off production is titled Art of Murder , and the story line will change at each event. Reservations are required. Admission includes dinner, the show and non-alcoholic beverages.

The Gari Melchers Home & Studio, 224 Washington St., Falmouth, Va. Call 540-654-1844 or go to garimelchers.umw.edu. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Wednesday. The estate is one of the homes taking part in The Garden Club of Virginia's Historic Garden Week, through April 27. Garden tour tickets vary in price, ranging from $15-$40. For a detailed schedule, go to vagardenweek.org or call 804-644-7776. Getting there Fredericksburg is served by Amtrak. It is about a two-hour drive from Baltimore.

The Charles J. Busta III lecture series at Notre Dame presents " Cindy Wolf : Mixing Business with Culinary Pleasure" on April 23. Wolf, two-time finalist for the James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef in the mid-Atlantic region, is a partner in Foreman Wolf, which owns and operates Charleston , Petit Louis , Pazo , Cinghiale and Johnny's . The Cindy Wolf lecture is 7 p.m. on April 23 at Notre Dame of Maryland University's...

Black scuff marks line the staircase at 922 N. Charles St., left there by frustrated tenants kicking the wall in a vain attempt to make their neighbor, the Museum Restaurant and Lounge, quiet down. Most nights, tenants say, the sound of DJs hyping up the crowd rattles china cabinets and nerves alike. "It's thump, thump, thump from the music," said Will Penn, 48, who lives in one of the apartments next door. Penn, like many other Baltimoreans who live near bars, said he has filed complaints using the city's 311 system but has seen nothing change.

Last call. The lights come on and the music pauses for a second while the bartender shouts it around the room. Before it's time to go, there'll be one more drink and one more tune - the closing song. The regulars already know what's coming, and when it starts playing, they tilt their heads back and belt out a few bars. As the last notes start to fade, they set their glasses down on the tabletops and start trickling out the door. This kind of scene still persists in the city, despite the invasion of digital jukeboxes and satellite radio, which take the closing song out of the bartender's hands.

Tribeca Coffee is open in Mid-Town Belvedere. "We are here!" said owner James Jeon. Jeon said he wants to attract students from the nearby campuses of the University of Baltimore and the Maryland Institute, College of Art.  He also wants to draw in coffee enthusiasts and develop some new ones, too. You can tell Jeon's serious. He's brought in beans from PT's Roasting Co. of Topeka, Kan. and he's invested in top-notch equipment like a Mahlkonig grinder, a Synesso espresso maker and a Diedrich roaster for in-house roasting.

Esther M. Bacot, a former dress designer and Talbot's sales associate, died March 25 from kidney failure at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. She was 88. The daughter of a physician and a homemaker, the former Esther Philinda Murray was born in Baltimore and raised on Charlesmeade Road in North Baltimore. She was the granddaughter of the Rev. John G. Murray, the seventh Episcopal bishop of Maryland and the first to be elected presiding bishop of the United States. She was a 1945 graduate of Bryn Mawr School and attended Goucher College.

Tribeca Coffee is open in Mid-Town Belvedere. "We are here!" said owner James Jeon. Jeon said he wants to attract students from the nearby campuses of the University of Baltimore and the Maryland Institute, College of Art.  He also wants to draw in coffee enthusiasts and develop some new ones, too. You can tell Jeon's serious. He's brought in beans from PT's Roasting Co. of Topeka, Kan. and he's invested in top-notch equipment like a Mahlkonig grinder, a Synesso espresso maker and a Diedrich roaster for in-house roasting.