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Kansas Speedway has gotten NASCAR’s approval to host a second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekend, starting in 2011.

The Kansas City, Kan., speedway and its parent, International Speedway Corp. (Nasdaq: ISCA), said Tuesday that the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event would be June 4-5; the second will be the fourth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, which will be Oct. 8-9.

Requesting another Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway was one of the sweeteners that casino developer Kansas Entertainment LLC offered when pitching its proposal to local and state officials. The first phase of the Hollywood Casino project, which broke ground in April, is expected to cost $386 million and open during the first quarter of 2012. It will overlook the second turn of the speedway track.

“Our fan support for the past 10 years has been tremendous and as a result of that support and the new Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway, we are fortunate enough to gain an additional NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race starting in 2011,” Kansas Speedway President Pat Warren said in a release.

Tickets for the 2011 races will go on sale after the speedway’s 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event in October. The full 2011 Sprint Cup Series schedule will be released later this year.

ISC CEO Lesa France Kennedy said the casino project “will make Kansas Speedway two of the most anticipated stops on the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule Payday advance.”

The casino, planned to be a $700 million project when all phases are complete, is being developed by a joint venture of ISC and Penn National Gaming Inc. (Nasdaq: PENN). The first phase is to include a 100,000-square-foot casino floor with enough room for 2,300 slot machines and 86 table games, a lounge and several dining and entertainment concepts.

Later phases are planned to include a hotel, more gambling space, a spa, a convention center and an entertainment retail district. International Speedway also has committed to building a road course at Kansas Speedway and using two free track-side billboards to promote Kansas tourism.

Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway is expected to bring more than 1,700 construction jobs, more than 1,000 full-time jobs and other economic benefits for the Kansas City region.

In 2007, Kansas approved a law that allowed four destination casinos in specific areas of the state, including one in Wyandotte County. Developers competed to be chosen to build and manage the project.

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Williamsville was the busiest location for real estate transactions in July, according to a Business First analysis of newly released data from the Erie County Clerk’s Office.

Fifty-three deals worth $10,000 or more were recorded in Williamsville’s 14221 zip code territory last month, easily the highest number for any zip in Erie County.

The runners-up were 14086 (Lancaster) with 39 deals over the $10,000 threshold and 14226 (Amherst) with 37.

Six other zips had between 30 and 36 transactions each: 14075 (Hamburg), 14150 (Tonawanda), 14224 (West Seneca), 14225 (Cheektowaga), 14072 (Grand Island), and 14127 (Orchard Park).

Click here for a complete database of 1,262 real estate deals filed in July.

And click here for a list of the 1,811 mortgages registered in Erie County last month.

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Federal banking regulators shut down two troubled Baltimore-area banks Friday, Bay National Bank and Ideal Federal Savings Bank, marking six Maryland banks felled by the collapse of the real estate market.

Bay National’s deposits are being assumed by a new entity called Bay Bank FSB. Its two branches will reopen Monday as Bay Bank branches, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said. Bay National depositors will automatically become depositors of Bay Bank, of Lutherville.

Bay Bank will led by CEO Kevin B. Cashen, a bank consultant and former executive with Chevy Chase Bank and Signet Bank.

Bay National first faced federal regulatory scrutiny 18 months ago, with regulators citing problem loans that drained the bank’s liquidity and capital. Despite talk of turning the bank around by raising new capital and a stock offering, the bank never was able to right itself.

Meanwhile, Ideal was in an “unsafe and unsound condition to transact business and was undercapitalized, with no reasonable prospect of becoming adequately capitalized, ” the Office of Thrift Supervision said.

No other bank was willing to take over Ideal’s operations, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said. The deposits held by the bank will be transferred to the M&T Bank branch at 715 N. Howard Street, where customers can pick up their money.

Hopes were higher for Bay National until it canceled a planned stock offering last month, citing “current public market conditions and the company’s current capital position,” as the reason.

Throughout the bank’s ordeal with regulators, CEO Hugh Mohler has remained quiet. The usually press friendly banker has refused to give interviews in the past three months. He could not be reached for comment Friday.

Mohler, a former Mercantile Bankshares executive, founded the bank in 2000 to focus on business lending in Greater Baltimore fast cash advance loan.

Mohler said in an earlier interview the bank ran into problems when the once hot real estate market in Canton and Federal Hill cooled and borrowers who had taken out loans to rehab houses in those neighborhoods had trouble repaying their loans.

As of March 31, Bay National Bank had $282.2 million in deposits and $276.1 million in deposits.

The bank, which banking regulators considered “critically undercapitalized,” was under orders to raise capital. Bay National Corp., the bank’s corporate parent, said in a May 17 Securities and Exchange Commission filing that there was “substantial doubt” about the company’s and the bank’s ability “to continue as going concerns for a reasonable period of time.”

The shutdown of Bay National will cost the FDIC’s insurance fund $17.4 million, the agency said.

Bay National Bank is the fourth bank in Maryland to be closed by regulators in the past 16 months, and the 87th FDIC-insured bank to be closed in 2010.

The Office of Thrift Supervision approved the charter for Bay Bank Friday. The new bank is owned by Jefferson Bancorp, a new holding company in Washington, D.C.

Bay Bank CEO Cashen said in a statement the bank "has a strong board of directors and management team with deep experience in the local market." No names were mentioned.

Ideal had a single branch, on Druid Hill Avenue, two employees, assets of $6.3 million and deposits of $5.8 million.

The minority-owned bank was opened in 1920 to serve Baltimore’s African-American community.

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FedFirst Financial Corp., Pittsburgh, said its plan to convert from a mutual holding company structure to a stock-holding one has been approved by members of its holding company and its shareholders. Both groups met separately Monday.

FedFirst (Nasdaq:FFCO) also said that it has begun a syndicated community offering to complete the sale of shares. FedFirst hopes to raise $26 million from the stock sale online payday loans. Investment banking firm Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. is assisting with the stock offering.

FedFirst, based in Monessen, about 20 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, operates nine branches in Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

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Gaithersburg-based GenVec, whose stock has tumbled this year after pulling the plug on one of its lead cancer treatments, has been notified that its stock price no longer meets Nasdaq Stock Market requirements.

GenVec stock, trading around 62 cents per share, has been below the minimum requirement of $1 per share for more than 30 consecutive business days. The company has until Nov. 8 to regain compliance, which requires trading at $1 per share or more for ten consecutive days.

GenVec shares have lost almost half their value this year.

The notification comes just four months after GenVec regained compliance following a previous warning about its stock price.

The Nasdaq notification does not currently affect GenVec's Nasdaq trading. If it fails to meet compliance by November, the Nasdaq can delist the stock.

"The company intends to actively monitor the bid price for its common stock between now and Nov. 8, 2010, and will consider available options to resolve the deficiency and regain compliance with the Nasdaq minimum bid price requirement," GenVec said in a statement, with offering specific plans for boosting its share price.

In March, GenVec decided to shut down its advanced clinical trails for its lead pancreatic cancer drug after it failed to show significant differences from standard care.

The company is focusing on other vaccine research programs that are funded mostly through government grants. It is working on treatments for HIV, foot and mouth disease, influenza and malaria.

GenVec (NASDAQ: GNVC) also has a licensing agreement with Novartis AG for a hearing loss treatment.

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eBay Inc. this week rolled out its rebranded eBayClassifieds.com site in Houston.

The new site replaces the San Jose, Calif.-based online marketplace’s local classified site called Kijiji.

Martin Herbst, general manager of eBay Classifieds, said Houston was a key market for the company’s research.

“What we found while conducting focus groups was that most of our users were parents who wanted a safe site with no spam or fraud,” he said. “They also wanted a user-friendly site where they could find something new and feel there is clean content.”

The Houston-specific site currently has more than 2,691 for sale ads, 2,756 job postings and 1,742 housing listings.

Herbst also said that eBay is testing customer e-mails inviting them to import their items onto the classifieds site if they were not successful the first time on eBay.

In addition, eBay created an iPhone application that allows consumers to photograph and list the item in 60 seconds or less after creating an account.

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Fort Lauderdale-based Stonegate Bank could be on the verge of another growth tear after raising $27.4 million through a private offering.

The bank (OTCBB: SGBK) said it sold more than 2.2 million shares at $12.25 each. About 30 percent to 40 percent of the investors were pre-existing shareholders, Stonegate President and CEO David Seleski said.

This is Stonegate’s second capital raise in the last six months. In October, it raised $14.3 million through a private offering. The same month, it assumed the assets of the failed Hillcrest Bank of Florida and Partners Bank, both of Naples. Only one branch in Naples remains open under Stonegate.

It acquired the assets of the failed Jupiter-based Integrity Bank in July. That location was consolidated into Stonegate's pre-existing Jupiter branch.

The bank finished 2009 with $551.2 million in assets and $63.5 million in Tier 1 capital, which gave it very strong regulatory capital ratios. With $27.4 million more in capital added to that, the bank is poised to grow even more.

The bank will continue its organic growth while hunting for more failed bank deals, acquisitions of operating banks and buying branches, Seleski said.

“You’re going to see us be pretty aggressive,” he said.

If it finds the right deal, Stonegate might enter another region of Florida because it operates as a commercial bank without the need for a lot of branches, he noted.

Stonegate earned $7.1 million in 2009, and 3.1 percent of its loans were noncurrent – a relatively low percentage compared to most Florida banks.

Stonegate shares closed Thursday up 25 cents to $13.25. The 52-week high was $14 on Jan. 5. The 52-week low was $6.50 on April 2, 2009.

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The CEO of Davie-based Ross Realty Investments was named in a foreclosure lawsuit against a stalled mixed-use development in Oakland Park.

Miami Lakes-based BankUnited filed the foreclosure lawsuit on March 5 against RM-Trion Oakland Park, Ross Realty CEO Barry Ross and managing members Kenneth T. Barber and William Matz, according to Broward County Circuit Court records. It concerns a mortgage last modified at $4.1 million in December 2008.

Ross Realty is a commercial developer that has completed buildings for Publix, Ross Dress For Less, Marshalls, Office Depot and LA Fitness. Ross did not immediately return a call and e-mail seeking comment.

Its affiliate, RM-Trion, bought the 2.7-acre site, at the southwest corner of North Federal Highway and Northeast 33rd Court, for $4.5 million in 2004. Three years later, the city granted it approval for 16,000 square feet of commercial/retail space and 175 residential units. However, construction never began.

Miami attorney Jose Casal, who represents BankUnited in the lawsuit, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

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London home sellers raised asking prices to a record high this month as they took advantage of a “stock-starved” housing market, Rightmove Plc said.

The average cost of a home in the capital jumped 5 percent to 427,987 pounds ($671,000), the most since records began in 2002, the owner of the U.K.’s biggest property Web site said in a statement today. Average asking prices in England and Wales increased by 3.2 percent, the most since April 2007.

A small apartment in London’s Pimlico district received “astronomical” interest from buyers, real-estate agent James Gubbins said in an interview. The Bank of England said in its quarterly economic forecasts this month that the strength in the housing market may reflect “unusually weak” supply.

“A price jump of 5 percent is more comparable to the pre- credit crunch boom,” Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said in the statement. “If sellers return to the market in larger numbers, the current upwards price pressure will not be sustainable with the restricted number of mortgage- strapped buyers.”

London’s Westminster district led gains in the capital, with prices rising 14.9 percent on the month to an average of 1.3 million pounds. The most expensive area is the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, where a 4.6 percent increase pushed up the average value to 1.9 million pounds.

‘Tiny Little Flat’

“The shortage is the main thing that’s cushioning the market,” said Gubbins, an agent at Dauntons in Pimlico, a neighborhood in Westminster. “Last year, buyers were socked to the teeth on the economy and didn’t know what they were going to do, and now they’ve decided to get on with it and stop putting their lives on hold.”

Gubbins said he recently had an “astronomical” number of viewings for a “tiny little flat” in Tachbrook Street in Pimlico, close to the Tate Britain art museum business card. Last year, “it wouldn’t have done at all well.” The one-bedroom property sold close to the asking price of almost 300,000 pounds, he said.

Prices rose 10.3 percent in London from a year earlier. That compares with a 6.1 percent gain in the U.K. as a whole, where prices fell about 12 percent from the peak in May 2008 to the trough in January last year.

Rightmove said a “stock-starved housing market” supported prices across Britain as the average number of properties per real estate agent stayed at a two-year low of 63. The average total for sale at real estate branches fell to 55 in January, the lowest since July 2007, according to a survey by, the National Association of Estate Agents released Feb. 11.

Mortgage Lending

The property market may still falter if mortgage lending weakens. The number of approvals fell to 59,023 in December, the first drop in more than a year and half.

Bank of England policy makers kept the benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.5 percent this month as they paused their 200 billion-pound emergency stimulus program. Governor Mervyn King said last week it was “far too soon” to say policy makers will make no more purchases as the economy recovers.

“The low interest rate environment is meaning that less people need to sell,” said James Perris of De Villiers Surveyors in London. “If we do see interest rates go up a bit, we may see people more inclined to sell.”

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Editor’s note: This story is part of a special supplement to the Jan. 22 print edition of the Phoenix Business Journal. For more on the print edition: jbertolino@bizjournals.com.

The battle over noise concerns if the new F-35 fighter training mission comes to Luke Air Force Base has placed Glendale and El Mirage in a public relations and political skirmish.

El Mirage worries the F-35 fighter is louder than the F-16 jets that currently fly into and out of Luke. The West Valley suburb wants noise tests done to see how much louder the F-35 might be, and it could sue the U.S. Defense Department over the matter.

“You can ask questions about noise and still support the base. The jet may be noisier, and if it comes, everyone is going to have to deal with it,” said Stacy Pearson, a spokeswoman for El Mirage.

Glendale, where the base is located, has taken the lead in trying to attract the new F-35 fighter to Luke, which is the U.S. Air Force’s main training base for F-16 pilots. The F-35 is replacing the F-16 in the U.S. military arsenal, and Luke is on the short list for F-35 training along with bases in Florida, New Mexico, Idaho and Tucson.

Glendale spokesman Jerry McCoy said community support for Luke could help draw F-35 operations to the base.

“They’re going to base their decisions on what’s best for the national defense. But they also want to be in a community that’s supportive of them,” said McCoy.

Glendale has been garnering political, business and community support for Luke and the F-35. The main concern is that if the Pentagon picks another base for F-35 training, Luke’s mission could end and base could be closed.

The West Valley suburbs are no strangers to conflict. Glendale prevailed in recent court battles with El Mirage regarding decades-old strip annexations. El Mirage officials have hinted that if Glendale turns over some of that land, it could help ease El Mirage’s worries about Luke noise fast cash advance.

Arizona Sen. John McCain has asked the Department of Defense to have an F-35 fly over the region in an effort to determine how much noise will be generated by the new plane if it ends up being based at Luke.

Pearson and McCoy are not strangers, either. Pearson worked as a spokeswoman for the city of Glendale with McCoy before leaving for a post at Rose & Allyn Public Relations. Last year, El Mirage hired Rose & Allyn, headed by Jason Rose, to handle its PR on the F-35 and Luke. Policy Development Group previously handled PR for El Mirage.

Pearson said Glendale’s reaction to El Mirage’s noise concerns is disappointing.

“It’s been juvenile,” she said. “The two cities have not been the friendliest of neighbors. It is time to bury the hatchet and discuss noise.”

In its quest, El Mirage has drawn comparisons to Valparaiso, Fla., which filed a federal lawsuit regarding F-35 noise at Eglin Air Force Base, near Pensacola. Since Eglin held some F-35 test flights, the Florida town has complained about what it believes is an increase in noise compared with the F-16.

McCoy said the noise concerns in Florida may not mirror those at Luke because of the number of and the differences in how flights take off and land at the two bases. Glendale officials point out that El Mirage does not get all of Luke’s flight noise: Some flights follow a path over Goodyear, south of the base, for takeoff and landing. El Mirage is north of Luke.

McCoy said the F-35 issue is not about a rivalry between the two cities.

“We don’t look at it as Glendale-El Mirage,” McCoy said. “This is really a statewide issue.”

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