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Priya Bhayana, the first executive director of the Bromo Tower Arts & Entertainment District, is stepping down next month after nearly three years working to

Employment in downtown Baltimore declined last year for the first time since 2011, while the number of people living in the area continued to climb, according to a report released Wednesday.

Officials gathered Tuesday to herald the start of a new 44-story apartment tower on a parking lot in the Inner Harbor, which once held the McCormick & Co. spice factory but for more than 25 years has lain undeveloped, serving as stubborn reminder of the city's diminished business base.

City leaders are excited about the National Urban League's decision to bring its 2016 conference to Baltimore next summer.

The city's design panel considered two proposals Thursday seeking to update the look of Baltimore's iconic Inner Harbor, but the plans met with decidedly mixed reviews.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on Thursday declined to say whether she hoped to see the trials of the officers charged in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray moved outside the city, adding "I have no dog in that fight."

Motorists and downtown workers should expect heavy traffic and possible road closures Wednesday as the first hearing in the death of Freddie Gray begins at the Baltimore courthouse, transportation officials said Tuesday.

A key group of city-owned properties on the west side of downtown is open for redevelopment, after years of legal wrangling and other delays that left the area languishing.

A souped-up gym run by the personal trainer of Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank plans to open at historic 10 Light Street by the end of the year, filling most of the first three floors of one of downtown Baltimore's most prominent addresses.

A new grocery store is planning to open on Charles Street in September, adding a supermarket to a downtown corridor where developers have been busily converting offices into apartments.

Many of the city's iconic attractions have struggled in the aftermath of rioting following the April 27 funeral of Freddie Gray

A gourmet grocer is planning to open in the Charles Street space that has been empty since Fresh & Greens closed at the end of 2013, officials said Thursday.

Downtown's 'free speech zone' is under threat.

Baltimore's firehouses, a home base for crews that battled more than 100 fires during Monday night's riots, are filling up with donations from a grateful public on Wednesday.

As downtown Towson grows, its transportation system needs to grow too, not just with a proposed circulator bus, but by making the area more walkable, bicycle-friendly and parking-friendly, a panel of experts told 40 people at a meeting Monday.

The west side, Market Center, UniverCity Center, the Bromo Arts District — officials aren't quite sure what to call the blocks just west of downtown, where hundreds of publicly-owned properties lie vacant and deteriorating in depressing testimony to one of the city's biggest failed urban renewal efforts. But they're trying out different tag lines, as the city and other major landlords ease their grip on the neighborhood and turn it back to private hands, in hopes one will soon fit.

Lexington Market could get a new building and play host to a weekly farmers' market if the city follows through on new recommendations for an institution dogged by a reputation for safety problems, lack of cleanliness and "smells."

One of Baltimore's most prominent development firms wants to build a new, world-class arena on piers in the Inner Harbor, reviving a long-talked-about project that would replace the aging Royal Farms Arena on the city's west side.

A catchy slogan that's also true

For years, Baltimore slogan's have been mocked, but Monday the City Council adopted a new one with a nod to history that may prove tamper-proof — "Baltimore: Birthplace of The Star-Spangled Banner."

The Shakespeare Theatre Association, with over 100 member organizations from several countries, will meet in Baltimore in 2017, hosted by the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company.

The city on Tuesday formally started the process of turning Cross Street Market over to private management, releasing guidelines for what it wants from interested developers.

The city has agreed to pay $2.86 million to buy the Lexington Market food court from Alex Brown Realty Inc., giving the city full ownership over the entire Lexington Market complex for the first time since the 1980s.

The developers of a high-profile Inner Harbor parcel said Thursday they hope to break ground in early 2016, but members of the city's design panel raised many questions about the proposed hotel and apartment tower, which would be one of the most visible in downtown.

The city could turn Cross Street Market over to a new manager next year, with the hope of remaking the down-on-its-heels South Baltimore institution into a vibrant shopping destination.

Downtown Baltimore's historic Keyser office building is expected to open as a new hotel this summer, more than five years after the developer that started the conversion entered bankruptcy.

Walter Evan Black Jr., a retired chief judge of the U.S. District Court for Maryland who ruled against the City of Baltimore in its efforts to acquire the Colts after the team moved to Indianapolis, died of Parkinson's disease complications Monday at his Easton home. The former Roland Park area resident was 88.

CVS pharmacy, Chick-fil-A and Nalley Fresh will open new stores at the Inner Harbor, joning Shake Shack and M&T Bank in a ground floor retail expansion at 400 East Pratt Street, the building's brokerage firm said today.

The two men accused by police of killing a rival gang member and a bystander in downtown Baltimore were ordered held without bond.

Demolition of the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre could begin "any day" as Owings Mills developer David S. Brown Enterprises LTD starts work on a new parking garage, retail space and hundreds of apartments, a spokesman for the company said.

The development firm working on one of downtown¿s biggest conversions of offices to apartments wants to erect another 362-unit building across the street, city development officials said Thursday.

Pandora is moving its regional headquarters for the Americas to Baltimore, bringing 250 employees from Columbia to downtown early in 2015.

Emergency work to shore-up eroded soil near the Cold Spring light rail station will force the closure of it and two others -- Mt. Washington and Woodberry -- for three weeks, the Maryland Transit Administration said Wednesday.

The Downtown Partnership of Baltimore is looking money to fund the replacement of the deteriorating McKeldin Plaza fountain with trees and a grassy park by 2016.

A woman was killed and three men were shot Monday in Baltimore, as detectives continued to investigate three weekend murders.

A man was shot to death in West Baltimore and another was found wounded Saturday night, police said.

A man was stabbed to death in downtown Baltimore overnight, police said.

Baltimore's skyline slowly but surely evolves as companies aim to boost visibility.