Projects

The Cordish Cos., known for pairing urban-style entertainment districts with sports venues, will work with the San Francisco Giants to build a $1.6 billion waterfront development near the club's ballpark and is planning three more sports-anchored projects in Las Vegas, Portland, Ore., and St. Louis. The Baltimore-based developer of Power Plant Live at the Inner Harbor and the Maryland Live Casino at Arundel Mills mall is seeing a burst of activity in sports-themed mixed-use development.

Citing "severely declining transportation revenues," Gov. William Donald Schaefer announced yesterday that he is suspending the start of new transit projects for 30 to 45 days.Affected by the order, according to Deputy Transportation Secretary Stephen G. Zentz, are about 70 projects -- more than $330 million worth of highway improvements, bridge overhauls and construction work."The unexpected decline in Transportation Trust Fund revenues brought on by the Mideast crisis and current economic conditions have given us no alternative but to suspend these projects," Governor Schaefer said.

With drug dealers prowling the halls and taking over empty apartments at Meade Village and Freetown, housing officials figure a few police officers would make good neighbors.The county Housing Authority, hoping to combat rising violence and drug-related crime, wants to recruit police officers to live in its projects for low-income families."It just strikes me that it would make an awful lot of sense to have police cars parked there and uniformed officers living there," said Charles St. Lawrence, chairman of the governing board, who made the proposal Thursday night.

Two Edgewood Chemical Biological Center projects recently won awards from the Federal Laboratory Consortium for exemplary work in furthering technology transfer. The projects, known as "Design, Development, Training, Fielding and Continued Consultation for Mobile Laboratories" and "Antibody Engineering for Expression in Insect Cells and Larvae," received two of 22 awards distributed nationwide by the federal consortium. Both projects involve application of government-developed technologies to commercial enterprises.

One week after Baltimore voters approved $30 million in loans to help fund capital projects throughout the city, the Schmoke administration has unveiled a new list of projects that it would like voters to approve on Election Day 1995.Baltimore's Planning Commission approved a loan program yesterday that would provide $31.7 million for redevelopment projects, including $2 million for the children's museum proposed for Market Place, $2.225 million for an Earth Conservation Center for the Baltimore Zoo and $1 million for a new emergency room at Sinai Hospital.

When arguments to improve the economy or please a Very Important Person failed, state legislators resorted to begging as they tried to slip a favorite project into a $400 million construction budget last weekend."

The state Department of Transportation could defer $18.8 million in financing for 12 Carroll road projects next year -- including the long-delayed Hampstead bypass -- if the legislature does not increase transportation revenue.The proposed 5 percent gas tax increase already has been rejected for this year. Motor vehicle fee increases thatcould raise about $42 million and allow DOT to retain some federal aid are still alive.DOT outlined last week $1.2 billion in transportation projects that would be put on hold.

The noneducation portion of Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker's $81.7 million amended capital budget proposal for fiscal 1994 survived a County Council work session virtually unscathed yesterday.Mr. Ecker had already picked his proposed budget clean by paring $2.5 million. The council accepted most of what Mr. Ecker proposed. It postponed a straw vote on four projects until May VTC 11, but none of the projects appears to be in trouble.Shane Pendergrass, a 1st District Democrat, expressed appreciation that Mr. Ecker's amended proposal included $377,000 to design and build a nutrition center at the Savage multipurpose center in her district.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening announced yesterday that nine housing projects across Maryland have been awarded more than $5 million in state loans and federal tax credits.The projects, selected through a new competitive process, will serve elderly, disabled and low-income residents in Baltimore City and Harford, Howard, Prince George's, Allegany, Charles and Wicomico counties.In Baltimore, St. Elizabeth's Senior Housing will receive $548,870 in state loans and federal tax credits to renovate a former convent for elderly housing.

Saying "the more a community does on its own, the better it will be," Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger yesterday announced a volunteer campaign that will put citizens to work on projects proposed by their own communities.Inspired by last spring's presidential volunteer summit, Ruppersberger said, the Volunteer Baltimore County program to start in October will have a "major, lasting impact on communities across the county" and reinforce the bond between residents and their communities.