Offshore energy giants form new JV amid low oil prices

Houston-based FMC Technologies Inc. (NYSE: FTI) has formed a new joint venture with France-based Technip SA to develop offshore projects in this new reality of low oil prices and high construction costs.

FMC, an offshore equipment manufacturing giant, and Technip, which focuses on offshore engineering and construction, created Forsys Subsea as a new 50-50 joint venture to focus on conceptual and front-end engineering and project development work.

Forsys will initially consist of 320 employees from…

Larry Hogan appoints new Maryland Stadium Authority chair

Gov. Larry Hogan has appointed a local investment banker as the new chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority.

Thomas E. Kelso, a managing director at Baltimore-based Matrix Capital Markets Group, succeeds John Morton III. Morton chaired the state agency since 2008, when he was appointed to the role by then-Gov. Martin O’Malley. Morton will continue to serve on the Stadium Authority board.

The Maryland Senate confirmed Kelso to the role on Friday.

The Maryland Stadium Authority is overseeing…

Fort Washington Holiday Inn sold, will undergo $19M redevelopment

A venture consisting of Haverford Hotel Partners and Haverford Properties Inc. bought the Holiday Inn Fort Washington and has plans to invest an estimated $19 million redeveloping the property.

Bill McNamara, managing partner of Haverford Hotel Partners, and Charles Houder, principal of Haverford Properties, picked up the 230-room, full-service hotel on seven acres in Montgomery County from a Washington, D.C., investor who has owned the property since it was developed in 1975. Joe McCann, head of…

Demolition underway at Piecora’s Pizza building in Capitol Hill

When Piecora’s Pizza closed a year ago, many in Capitol Hill lost a popular gathering place.

Now, the building that housed the neighborhood hangout at 1401 E. Madison St. is being demolished to make way for a new development, likely a mixed-use building.

Equity Residential, which owns the site, is collaborating with the Pike/Pine Urban Neighborhood Council and other groups in the area on the design and development plan, the company said in a press release.

Equity Vice President Bradley Karvasek…

Still $3 million short, B Street Theatre adds board members for final push

B Street Theatre has recruited four board members with deep ties to Sacramento’s business and philanthropic worlds to help fill a $3 million fundraising gap for its $22 million theater complex.

The new directors are Sandy Smoley, Ruth Blank, Lori Bluett and Jeanne Reeves.

The theater company has been planning the complex — and trying to raise the money — for well more than a decade. It is planned for a site donated by Sutter Health near the expanded Sutter Medical Center Sacramento.

In May 2014,…