A Providence, R.I., hotel group has completed its purchase of the Holiday Inn Baltimore Inner Harbor hotel. The Procaccianti Group bought the 365-room hotel at 301 W. Lombard St. for an undisclosed price. The company owns 61 hotels in 23 states with almost 17,000 rooms. ?We believe this hotel is properly positioned to benefit as the market continues to rebound and key performance indicators improve,? Procaccianti Group Chief Investment Officer Robert Leven said in a statement. The company already owns two other hotels in Maryland: the 210-room DoubleTree BWI Airport hotel in Linthicum, and the Crowne Plaza Washington, D...

Dangerously Delicious Pies has signed a lease for a second location in Washington, D.C. The dessert shop, which originated in Baltimore's Canton neighborhood, will occupy 500 square feet at Douglas Development's building at 901 7th St. NW in D.C. The pie shop, from Baltimore entrepreneur and ex-rocker Rodney Henry, will open in April of 2012. The shop also has a store at H Street NE in D.C. Dangerously Delicious closed its Federal Hill location last year, and still operates a store on the Canton Square.

A developer plans to break ground later this year on a 70,000-square-foot shopping center next to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County. Frankel Properties is developing the 10-acre project at Maryland Routes 40 and 715. A mix of tenants are expected to include a food store, convenient store/fuel station, bank and sit-down restaurants. KLNB Retail has been named the exclusive sales broker for the project, known as Aberdeen Station. KLNB Retail principals Patrick A.M. Miller and Adam Miller are overseeing leasing...

The Velsor Cos., a Virginia-based owner of office and warehouse properties in the region, has tapped Cassidy Turley to find tenants to fill about 100,000 square feet available in two industrial buildings in Columbia. The buildings at 6655 Dobbin Road and 8909 McGaw Court, which comprise Velsor?s Seiling Industrial portfolio, total about 220,000 square feet and are 57 percent occupied. Tenants include Eclipse Sport & Entertainment, Rommel Engineering Inc., Thunder Grafix Ltd., Midwest Copier Exchange Inc...

The lawsuits and debts keep piling up for organizers of the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix. Sunbelt Rental Inc., a Lorton, Va., company, filed suit against Baltimore Racing Development LLC, alleging it was not paid for construction equipment it rented and fuel it sold to BRD. The Jan. 23 lawsuit seeks a total of $178,881, including $147,276 for equipment rentals and fuel. The complaint also seeks $22,091 in attorney?s fees and $9,514 in interest. Alan Fishbein, an attorney with Ellicott City law firm Fishbein & Fishbein P...

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. could open at the Inner Harbor by Memorial Day, a Harborplace executive said Tuesday, and the restaurant is already starting to hire. The eatery has job postings for a retail manager, front of the house manager, as well as kitchen managers. All positions require at least two years experience in a retail environment. The positions are full-time and come with benefits, as well as all the shrimp you can eat. Are you interested in helping serve pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger and shrimp sandwich? (If you?re not familiar with the shrimp references, see the 1994 movie ?Forrest Gump...

McDaniel College has been awarded for the second-straight year a $100,000 grant from the Nora Roberts Foundation to help advance research of romance literature. The grant from Roberts, the best-selling author of more than 200 romance novels, will support the Westminster college?s academic minor in romance fiction and a related online creative writing course. The money will also support the American romance collection in McDaniel?s Hoover Library. Roberts, a Marylander, made a $100,000 grant to McDaniel in 2011 that helped create the romance collection...

Carrollton Bancorp swung to a profit in the fourth quarter, as the parent company of Columbia?s Carrollton Bank added deposits and set aside less money to cover potential loan losses. Carrollton (NASDAQ: CRRB) posted net income of $569,000 for the quarter. That compares with a loss of $1.2 million in fourth quarter 2010. Holders of Carrollton?s common stock saw net income of $431,000, or 17 cents a share, for the quarte. That?s after accounting for preferred stock dividends paid to the U...

Harborplace changes, including new restaurants and attractions, could be up and running by the typically busy summer months. Christopher S. Schardt, senior general manager of Harborplace and the Gallery, told me Tuesday that plans for a Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and Ripley?s Believe or Not museum are pressing ahead and the goal is to have them open ?just before Memorial Day.? The same goes for a new McCormick & Co. Inc. retail store. The spice giant said Tuesday it plans to open a 3,800-square-foot Harborplace store, set to include cooking demonstrations and interactive displays...

CVS Pharmacy bought a 1.76-acre parcel at Howard County?s Maple Lawn development for an undisclosed price in an attempt to woo customers from the area?s residential and business community. The pharmacy chain is expected to open a store at the site this summer, MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. said Tuesday. CVS joins a mix of businesses that include a Harris Teeter supermarket, Looney?s Pub and the Pearl Spa and Boutique. In November, the Home Builders Association of Maryland announced it would move its headquarters to Maple Lawn...