WASHINGTON, DC-The H. Carl Moultrie Courthouse, a 654,000-sf facility at Judiciary Square, gets prepared for a $50-million upgrade and expansion. Plans for the project move forward with the General Services Administration's recent selection of Gensler to design the alterations and additions.

BETHESDA-Tenants appear to be committed to the 712,000-sf Air Rights Center. Building occupant Calvert Shareholders Service Inc., a mutual fund company, renews and extends its office lease to about 56,000 two years before its original lease is set to expires.

RICHMOND, VA-Evergreen Enterprises Inc. decided to expand facilities here through a $5 million construction plan. The project, due to commence immediately, will add 100,000 sf to the home and garden accessories provider's existing 160,000-sf industrial building.

FAIRFAX, VA-Willow Oaks III, the third structure to open in Prentiss Properties' Willow Oaks Corporate Office Park, has opened its doors to a new tenant, Lanier Worldwide Inc., which recently moved into 12,000 sf of space.

WASHINGTON, DC-The real estate industry is in for an extra boost, as members of the US House of Representatives introduce legislation that will bolster the industry, as well as induce economic development. The law, HR 1634, would alter the Internal Revenue Code.

WASHINGTON, DC-The city absorbs a second Ritz-Carlton Hotel & Residences property with the opening of the 86-room Ritz-Carlton Georgetown. New York-based Millennium Partners developed the $150-million hotel, which also includes requisite meeting space, a multiplex theater and retail.

LINTHICUM, MD-Fort Lauderdale-based computer security firm CyberGuard Corp. heeds its federal clients' calling by opening an office in the Linthicum, MD building known as Airport Square 14. CyberGuard has 2,800 sf of the 69,000-sf, four-story structure.

BALTIMORE, MD-Cognate Therapeutics Inc., a biotech startup created through a state-backed venture fund, makes its debut at the University of Maryland Baltimore Campus incubator. Cognate now houses its office and laboratory space within a 14,000-sf space.