Banker and developer Edwin F. Hale Sr. owes more than $10 million to an Atlanta bank, the result of a loan he took out to finance a Baltimore apartment complex during the real estate boom. The debt threatens a major residential component of Canton Crossing, Hale's $1 billion East Baltimore mixed-use development project.

A city circuit court judge this past week denied Hale's attorneys' request for a trial to settle the debt. An earlier ruling held that Hale owes $10.3 million, plus interest payments of nearly $2,000 per day since November 18, to Silverton Bank.