Editor’s note: Housing begins to make its move

The federal industrial complex that dominates our local economy may be bracing for leaner times, but I’m detecting glimmers of optimism among those not so dependent on government work.The evidence, mostly anecdotal, can be found in the financial reports and transcripts of earnings calls with Wall Street analysts typically released this time of year. Read full article >>

Will Tiffany & Co. give downtown D.C. a chance?

The storefront looks like a piece of jewelry — there’s a shimmering, silver-colored door surrounded by stately, polished stone. All that’s missing is the robin egg blue from a certain company’s famous gift boxes. Read full article >>

Curry’s Auto Service turns to new line of business

Matt Curry says he can make your hybrid car’s battery come back to life.All it takes is 11 hours and $1,299 — one-third of the price, he says, of replacing the battery altogether.Two months ago, Gainesville-based Curry’s Auto Service received exclusive distribution rights to the battery-conditioning technology created by a former General Motors employee. To date, Curry estimates that the c

Ogilvy Government Relations eyes a comeback

Eighteen months ago, Ogilvy Government Relations was a $20 million enterprise, the sixth highest-grossing firm on K Street that, because of its relatively small size, was also raking in more revenue per lobbyist than almost any other shop. Read full article >>

Barbour takes the helm of Lockheed’s IT unit

Sondra L. Barbourtook over in April what might be the most challenged unit of Bethesda-based defense contractor Lockheed Martin. The information systems and global solutions unit — encompassing much of the company’s IT work — is a shorter-cycle business, meaning government spending cuts generally hit it faster than, say, an aerospace unit, where development and production take place over many

After quiet first quarter, bank mergers pick up

A flurry of mergers and acquisitions closed in the past week as community banks and credit unions look to expand in a ho-hum economy.On May 10, Rockville-based Capital Bank said it had acquired Pisgah Community Bank in Asheville, N.C. That same day, Old Line Bancshares said it closed its purchase of WSB Holdings, the parent company of Washington Savings Bank, for $$54.7 million in cash and st

LivingSocial relying on events to make up for weaker daily deals business

LivingSocial is leaning heavily on its business creating and promoting concerts, festivals, races and other events as the District-based company looks to compensate for its flagging daily deals business and establish an identity independent of discounts. Read full article >>

Nonprofits honored for best practices

Many nonprofits in the region have had to rethink their operations following the recession, as donations dropped and human service demands increased. While a few were forced to close their doors, most have had to make tough or creative decisions to get leaner and more efficient. Some reached out to form new partnerships with other charities. Others gave board members new tools to get the word ou

The business of bike sharing

To understand the mechanics of the sharing economy, it helps to spend a weekday morning near Dupont Circle. There, hundreds of residents, tourists and commuters pick up or drop off one of the many distinctive red bikes available through the District’s Capital Bikeshare program each day. The 40-bike rack near 20th Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW is the busiest stop in the biggest bike-shar

A vegan office: How one workplace has moved to get healthier together

Carrie Clyne’s last job was in an office that feasted on a steady supply of junk food. Donuts in the mornings and cupcakes for staffers’ birthdays were the familiar routine. But in January, when she took a position with nonprofit organization Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, she was pleasantly surprised by her new employer’s decidedly different attitude toward food. Read full

Lobbying registrations for April return to numbers not seen since 2011

April marked a spike in activity on K Street, with corporations, trade groups and other entities tapping outside lobbyists at a rate not seen since mid-2011. Last month saw 686 new lobbying registrations — reports that lobbyists must file with the Senate when they contact members of Congress on behalf of a new client. The last time the volume of new lobbying registrations even came close to t

D.C.’s Punk Rock Bride to expand to West coast

Punk Rock Bride, the District-grown bridal company founded five years ago, is setting its sights on the West Coast.The wedding gown collection, which caters to brides who are looking for off-beat designs and more modern cuts, was started by Stephanie Ward in her Georgetown apartment in 2008. Read full article >>

Digital agency Huge sees big opportunity in Washington

No khakis allowed.That’s the rule in the Adams Morgan office of Huge, the Brooklyn-based digital strategy and branding agency that is growing faster in Washington than any of its other seven offices in the United States, the United Kingdom and Brazil. Read full article >>

Venga on path to growth after two years of change

Several desks in Venga’s single-suite headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue NW have yet to be filled. If the company’s current trajectory holds, they may serve as a sign of growth to come.Co-founder Winston Bao Lord said the nine-person company is looking to bulk up its sales staff — adding as many as one or two employees a month — to its office in D.C. and other cities around the country where

‘Densification’ is new a challenge for Downtown DC Business Improvement District

I dropped by a presentation on the health of the Downtown DC Business Improvement District recently to hear an update on the area’s ongoing resurgence.The business leaders had plenty to say about their successes, of course, patting themselves on the back for snagging this restaurant and celebrating that anniversary. But they also were not shy about discussing their challenges, displaying a ki

Capital Buzz: Will lightning strike twice for Allbrittons?

The news last week that Allbritton Communications was selling its WJLA, known as ABC7, television affiliate along with the rest of Allbritton’s family of eight broadcast stations shot like a bolt from the blue onto the Washington media scene. Read full article >>

How social media can be used for historic preservation

By its nature, historical preservation is not a popularity contest. Indeed, the industry prides itself on not bending to the latest architectural trends in deciding which buildings deserve protection.But for properties short on funding for repairs or improvements — and in many cases visitors — drumming up a little support can’t hurt, which explains why the National Trust for Historic Preserva

The Download: A new venture for Blackboard co-founder Michael Chasen

The next venture from Blackboard co-founder Michael Chasen has surfaced: SocialRadar , a start-up that is “developing leading-edge technologies in the mobile, social and location space.”Details about the District-based company are spare. Chasen, who declined an interview request, describes himself on LinkedIn and several other online profiles as president and chief executive of the company.

Rethinking the design of metro stations

When many Washingtonians think of Metro, they aren’t thinking about the future, they’re thinking about right now. Will my farecard be accepted? Will my train arrive on time? And will any of the gosh-darn escalators work today? Read full article >>

Editor’s note: What’s the most adaptive part of a machine? The person operating it.

We don’t talk a lot about manufacturing in the Washington area; ours is an economy that is supposed to be powered by knowledge.But I learned a thing or two last week when Washington Post Live sponsored a conference on “America’s New Manufacturing” here at the newspaper’s downtown headquarters. Read full article >>

Networking group for women in communications is growing

Public relations maven Lauren Wesley Wilson, 28, said she once spent an entire year — and sent a ton of e-mails — to try to have coffee with an executive, only to find out there was no chemistry when they met. Read full article >>

Split in public opinion for two Connecticut Avenue apartment projects

They are just a mile apart on Connecticut Avenue, proposed by two family-owned companies with long resumes in real estate development, but they could not be faring more differently. Recently, representatives of Saul Centers, a publicly traded Bethesda firm, have unveiled plans to build 271 luxury apartments as part of a mixed-use project at the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and Yuma Stre

Smartphone case acts as panic button when attacked

Ellen Page was walking home through a shabbier strip of her Adams Morgan neighborhood one night last year when the 25-year-old decided to do what she often does if she feels unsafe: call someone to chat for the rest of the walk. Read full article >>

How D.C.’s food entrepreneurs are cutting costs

Washington’s expanding food culture has inspired a new generation of entrepreneurs to try their hand at the food business, often peddling treats they make themselves through food trucks, farmers markets, coffee shops and restaurants. Read full article >>

Editor’s note: We turn three, which is as good a time as any to make some changes

Capital Business turned three last week, and for that we thank you dear reader.According to the developmental handbooks, three-year-olds are no longer considered toddlers; we can stand on our own two feet. Read full article >>

Capital Buzz: Ernest Maier is working on a big project in Angola

Brendan Quinn just returned from five days in Angola, where his company, Bladensburg-based masonry supplier Ernest Maier, has lined up work quarrying granite so it can be processed into stone for use in concrete, road and asphalt jobs. Read full article >>

More ideas for the Hoover Building

Dan Tangherlini, acting administrator of the General Services Administration, has proposed trading the J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Avenue for a new FBI headquarters campus. He received 35 responses last month from interested parties. Read full article >>

Some contractors find success in state and local work

Many government contractors view state and local work as a waste of time involving small dollars and difficult, ever-changing regulations.But for several area companies, this business is proving fruitful, particularly as federal spending shrinks. Read full article >>

Could an immigration overhaul keep more STEM graduates in the Washington area?

Hamid Charkhkar is developing technology to help the blind see and the disabled walk. Originally from Iran, he has spent the past four years studying electrical and computer engineering at George Mason University, focusing on mapping brain signals — the type of research used to build devices that bypass retina damage to give blind people a sense of sight and send directions from amputees’ bra

Capital Buzz: Merrills’s new venture is paint by numbers

Local entrepreneur Craig Merrills, owner of two Washington restaurants, the Madhatter in Dupont Circle and Cedar in Penn Quarter, is getting in the painting business.Merrills this year bought the first Wow 1Day! Painting franchise in Washington. Vancouver-based Wow1Day! vows to paint your home or business in a single day, whatever the scale of the job. Read full article >>