Renovation

The Randallstown Library has undergone a nearly $500,000 renovation that includes upgrades to the entrance and lobby, the addition of three tutoring rooms and a new elevator to improve access to the building at 8604 Liberty Road. The project was completed for $60,000 under its $510,000 estimated budget. The state will reimburse about $255,000 of the cost. Officials will mark the renovation at a ceremonial ribbon cutting at 11a.m. on Feb. 14.

Clifton Mansion still towers over Baltimore, but decades of neglect are eroding its underpinnings. Wood is rotting on the signature porches of the 19th-century building. Water stains the walls of its elegant salon. Job-training students wear gloves and hats in winter to ward off cold from a wall of aging windows. Plaster is crumbling, floors need refinishing and research must be done to preserve murals, stencils and paintings. The Italianate stucco home, Johns Hopkins' summer estate in what is now Clifton Park in Northeast Baltimore, is about to undergo a $7 million renovation to restore those gracefully arched porches and floor-to-ceiling windows.

Baltimore's former Highlandtown Library would be renovated by mid-2011 to house a mixture of office and classroom space on the upper levels and retail space at street level, if the city accepts a $1.5 million proposal submitted by the Southeast Community Development Corp. The Baltimore Development Corp. sought proposals last year for the surplus city property at 3323 Eastern Ave. and announced Wednesday that the bid from nonprofit Southeast CDC is the only one it received. Under the proposal, the renovated library would house the headquarters of the Southeast CDC and other tenants.

The Fisher family envisioned a retreat in the backyard of their Baltimore County home — an easy, elegant outdoor living space that would reflect their passion for nature. "I grew up in the country," says Alex Fisher, an investment executive. "There were rock gardens, ponds, streams and a waterfall where we would sometimes camp out. " "We've always enjoyed being outdoors," adds Laurie Fisher, a fashion consultant. "Our son, Davis, will leave for college soon, and we're really embracing this time we have with him. We're happiest relaxing with family and friends.

Baltimore Museum of Art leaders unveiled plans on Tuesday to complete a $24 million renovation in time for the institution's 100 t h anniversary in 2014, a three-year project that will require some galleries to be closed in phases starting early next year. The museum's director, Doreen Bolger, and its fundraising campaign co-chair, Sandra Levi Gerstung, announced that the museum has raised more than half the funds needed for the project, including a commitment of $10 million over four years from the state of Maryland and a $1.25 million bond issue from the city of Baltimore.

That schools CEO Andrés Alonso deplores the lavish renovation at headquarters only after the work has been done says a lot about why he should go. Mr. Alonso has abused having a driver, and he brings in outside auditors when standardized tests are given because he doesn't trust the people who work for him, He and the mayor were pictured with President Obama when he signed a wavier to do away with certain requirements of the No Child Left...

Just as houses come in all different designs and sizes, so do the families that live within them. The large, end-of-group rowhouse in Federal Hill that belongs to the Johnson family shelters multiple generations. "We are three generations of women, a poodle and two goldfish all living in this home that we decided to make 21st century," laughed Gilda Johnson, who lives there with her 94-year-old mother, Carlyn Johnson, and her 16-year-old daughter, Ce Ce Johnson. This family of women own three residential properties and five parcels of commercial property in Federal Hill.

The Baltimore Museum of Art announced Wednesday that it has chosen the local architectural firm of Ziger/Snead to lead a $24 million renovation of the neoclassical museum building, which houses 90,000 pieces of art, including the world's largest collection of works by Henri Matisse. The Mount Vernon-based firm has designed several distinctive Baltimore buildings, including the angular, white-glass-paneled Brown Center at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Living Classroom Foundation's headquarters overlooking the harbor in Fells Point.

The Baltimore County school board voted Wednesday night to give Mullan Contracting Co. a $21 million contract for renovations and additions to Milford Mill Academy. Last March, the board had awarded a $20.4 million contract to James Ancel. The county allowed Ancel to pull out of the contract last fall after paying him $7.6 million for work he had completed as well as trailers and some materials. Ancel had complained the architectural drawings were not complete. The vote was unanimous with one abstention.

She remembers it as though it were yesterday — the rows of fresh-faced students, the stern but caring teachers, the potbelly stove in the two-room building. And for Gertrude Makell, the homework never seemed to stop: arithmetic, spelling, history. That was 54 years ago, when Makell was a third-grader at the tiny Galesville Colored Elementary School, the only grade school then open to African-American children in the rural town on the water. Today, she's poised to make some history of her own. Workers will soon complete a mission Makell dreamed up seven years ago — the full restoration of the structure, which started its life as a one-room schoolhouse in 1929, marked several key stages of African-American history and anchored Galesville's black community for generations.

State officials approved more than $161 million in school construction funding Wednesday that will allow school systems in the Baltimore area to undertake renovation projects, tackling problems that include sweltering and overcrowded classrooms and dilapidated buildings and amenities. The Maryland Board of Public Works approved the last round of construction dollars being doled out to schools for fiscal year 2013. The state approved $187.5 million in funding in January, bringing the total amount for school construction projects to nearly $350 million, a more than $85 million increase from fiscal year 2012.

OCEAN CITY, Md. (AP) -- The Boardwalk has been a tourism nucleus for decades. And while it stays relatively the same year after year, with a multitude of stores, eateries and other attractions, each season brings a few changes. This season, visitors will notice the actual Boardwalk has received a facelift. During the off-season, some portions of the 2.5-mile span were reconstructed. It's easy to tell where upgrades were made, as the new boards are a lighter shade of brown.

Managers of White Marsh Mall offered more details today about mall upgrades, a day after announcing that Boscov's department store will return to the shopping center in October. Boscov's had closed its store at the mall nearly four years ago after it filed for bankruptcy, but now is in expansion mode. Besides getting its former anchor back this fall, the mall will get a renovated food court, with construction starting Sunday. New stalls will include  Charley's Grilled Subs and Yolavie Premium Frozen Yogurt, increasing the number of eateries to 13. Some vendors will remodel, including Cajun Café & Grill, G'lato d'Italia and Dairy Queen.

Royal Caribbean International will bring the newly renovated Grandeur of the Seas cruise ship back to Baltimore next year, officials said Tuesday. The ship, which is undergoing a $48 million modernization, will replace another cruise vessel early in 2013, according to a statement from the Maryland Port Administration. The refurbished ship will have new dining options, a new nursery and technology upgrades, including ship-wide wireless Internet service, the port administration said.

About a year ago, Matt Venditto hired a builder to construct a house in Westminster. It wasn't long before buyer's remorse set in. In early June, Venditto purchased a lot from Green Builders Inc., which was expected to finish the four-bedroom house within six months. But, Venditto says, progress was slow and the builder difficult to reach. Then, late last year, Venditto started hearing from subcontractors that they hadn't been paid. By mid-March, a few subcontractors had filed lien notices, while others began calling Venditto to complain that they also hadn't been paid.

Four Baltimore recreation centers will shut down for good at the end of the summer as part of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's strategy to target limited funds to improve some centers while closing others, officials said Tuesday. The four centers, all in West Baltimore, are slated to close at the conclusion of their summer programs in late August. They are Crispus Attucks in Madison Park, Parkview, which is south of Druid Hill Park, and Central Rosemont and Harlem Park, which are in the neighborhoods after which they are named.

Producers of HGTV's My Big Amazing Renovation are looking for homeowners in the Baltimore area who are in the middle of making large-scale renovations to their homes. Homeowners who are doubling the size of their house, transforming the original layout, undertaking several unique design projects or updating the exterior and are eager to share their experience should call 303-712-3093 or e-mail cbaggish@highnoonentertain ment.com. Participants should note that HGTV will not cover the cost of any renovations.

Outraged education, community and political leaders have called for increased oversight of spending in the Baltimore City school system, amid revelations that about $500,000 was spent to upgrade offices at the district headquarters while city and state leaders fought for funding to fix dilapidated school buildings. Since January 2011, the school system has undertaken 11 renovation projects in eight departments, The Baltimore Sun reported this week. Half of the money went to renovation of a single department: The information technology office, which has spent $250,000 largely to transform an executive suite with new amenities such as interactive white boards.

That schools CEO Andrés Alonso deplores the lavish renovation at headquarters only after the work has been done says a lot about why he should go. Mr. Alonso has abused having a driver, and he brings in outside auditors when standardized tests are given because he doesn't trust the people who work for him, He and the mayor were pictured with President Obama when he signed a wavier to do away with certain requirements of the No Child Left...