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Mars expands pet care operations with European acquisitions
Mars Inc., Greater Washington’s largest private company, said Tuesday it has acquired two veterinary diagnostics businesses located in Europe.<\p> McLean-based Mars said it has closed a deal with Cerba HealthCare where it is buying an ownership stake in Cerba Vet, a network of six veterinary diagnostics labs located in France and Switzerland, as well as Antagene, an animal DNA testing business located in Lyon, France. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.<\p>
Richmond region misses out on new round of Tech Hubs funding
The Department of Commerce on Tuesday announced another $504 million in grants as part of its Tech Hubs program, but the Richmond region’s advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing hub didn’t make the cut. <\p> The Tech Hubs program, part of the CHIPS Act passed by Congress in 2022, aims to identify tech-specific regions around the country outside of the typical technology epicenters such as Silicon Valley, Boston and New York and provide them with the funding they need to grow. The idea is to seed these hubs with federal dollars that can be used to leverage private-sector investment and snowball into larger growth.<\p>
Burke & Herbert plots Maryland expansion following merger
Alexandria's Burke & Herbert Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ: BHRB) is bulking up in Maryland following its first-ever merger. <\p> The 174-year-old bank has just leased 18,000 square feet at 7815 Woodmont Ave. in Bethesda, where it is housing a loan production office and eventually plans to open a full-service branch. The space — formerly the headquarters of Eagle Bancorp Inc. — will also serve as Burke & Herbert's base of operations in Maryland as the bank looks to open more offices in the state, Michael Solomon, its regional president for the Maryland and Delaware markets, said in an interview.<\p>
Md. biotech reports $130M in new funding — and stock plummets
Maryland’s Cartesian Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: RNAC) saw its share price tank Tuesday after announcing a plan to secure $130 million in fresh funding, and reporting good news about a treatment it’s developing for a chronic autoimmune disorder. <\p> The clinical-stage company said Tuesday it has inked a securities purchase agreement for a private investment in public equity financing, or PIPE — in which institutional and accredited investors can basically buy stock from a public company below its market price. PIPE financing can dilute the value of existing shares. <\p>
New report suggests cautious optimism for suburban Md. office
While the office vacancy rate for suburban Maryland remains at a record high quarter-over-quarter, a recent market report from CBRE takes a more upbeat tone looking back on the second quarter, marking a big rebound in leasing activity leading to positive absorption, a rare thing since Covid.<\p> While the second quarter saw overall vacancy for the submarket, including much of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, remain flat — 20.4%, just a hair down from 20.5% in the first quarter — other metrics showed improvement, per CBRE’s July 1 report. <\p>
Sub shop with ties to Italian Store plans Barracks Row restaurant
A popular sandwich shop with ties to the Italian Store in Arlington plans to open a second location on Barracks Row, three-and-a-half years after Compliments Only debuted from temporary space in Logan Circle.<\p> The restaurant from Pete Sitcov and Emily Cipes is tentatively slated to open by the end of the summer from a roughly 1,600-square-foot space at 526 Eighth St. SE, sandwiched between Jeni’s Ice Cream and Akeno Sushi Bar and Thai, per Cipes and D.C. permit data. <\p>
Among small businesses, there's a huge divide on finances
The smallest businesses are the ones most likely to be struggling, as larger small businesses report better conditions.<\p> The latest data from the Federal Reserve’s Small Business Credit Survey — released earlier this year but since followed up with a more detailed breakdown by size and demographics — shows how, even within the realm of small businesses, there is wide variation.<\p>
New vision would recast Kennedy Center as part of the National Mall
Federal planners are in the earliest stages of crafting a monumental new concept to reincorporate the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the nearby Potomac River waterfront into a greener D.C. landscape by eliminating a tangled maze of highways and ramps that inhibit the area today. <\p> The colossal vision, presented last month to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, would transform roughly 84.5 acres from Virginia Avenue to the Lincoln Memorial with a new 27-acre park, overhaul entry into the District via Interstate 66 by shifting ramps and roads underground. It would also open up space for new national monuments and other new development.<\p>
Boston Properties makes rare pitch for Reston Town Center’s next phase
Boston Properties wants to substantially increase the amount of new office space envisioned in the next phase of Reston Town Center.<\p> The company (NYSE: BXP) has proposed redeveloping two 1980s-era buildings, 12020 and 12030 Sunset Hills Road, both long occupied by the CIA, and a surface parking lot on about a dozen acres with five new buildings totaling about 2.1 million square feet, per application documents filed with Fairfax County. The site sits directly across Sunset Hills Road from the Reston Town Center Metro station.<\p>
New carrier at Dulles brings daily flights to Mexico
Aeromexico is returning to Dulles International Airport for the first time in years through the launch of a new daily flight service.<\p> Effective Monday and set for year-round, Aeromexico is offering a daily nonstop flight from IAD to and from Mexico City International Airport, located near the center of the Mexican capital.<\p>
Small-business grants you can apply for this month
Small-business owners might be more confident about their future, but they are still worried about inflation.<\p> That’s the big takeaway from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Small Business Index, conducted in partnership with MetLife, which hit the highest level of optimism since early 2020, with about 73% of business owners expecting their revenue to grow in the next year. <\p>
Boeing to make $4.7B acquisition
Arlington aerospace company The Boeing Co. said Monday it has reached a deal to buy parts supplier Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. in an all-stock transaction valued at $4.7 billion. <\p> Boeing (NYSE: BA), which announced in early March it was in preliminary discussions about a deal, has said buying Spirit (NYSE: SPR) would improve aviation safety and improve the quality of its jet manufacturing. <\p>
Longtime friends pitch indoor shooting range, cigar lounge in Tysons
A pair of longtime friends is proposing to convert three commercial condos in Tysons into a members-only indoor shooting range and cigar lounge.<\p> The proposed business, dubbed Smok’d, is the subject of a special permit application filed Friday with Fairfax County. Led by Kyle Ray and Aaron Waldrop, Smok’d at 8453 Tyco Road will incorporate seven 15-yard shooting bays, a viewing area, lounge, kitchen and private humidors across roughly 5,500 square feet, according to the site plans.<\p>
D.C. office vacancy hits another record high in Q2
The District's office vacancy rate hit another record high in the second quarter, the result of a few significant contractions in the leasing market, according to fresh data from CBRE.<\p> The vacancy rate rose to 22.4%, up from the previous record high of 21.6% recorded at the end of the first quarter, per CBRE's second quarter report. The D.C. market recorded more than 500,000 square feet of negative absorption for the quarter that ended Sunday, led by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's planned relocation and downsizing, according to the report. <\p>
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