D.C. Developer Sways the City With Big Bucks and Big Ideas

Herbert S. Miller, second from right, took in the Washington Nationals' July 8 home game with D.C. Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), left, Nationals President Stan Kasten and William N. Hall of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission. (Missy Hall)

"The only delay, in my opinion, is if they don't give us design approval," Miller said of the Lerner group, which will review his plans and financing strategy early next month. The outcome could go a long way toward determining the look, feel and, ultimately, success of the ballpark district.

"We understand the potential risks, and we've tried to mitigate them," Miller said. "If we don't make our dates, shoot us in the head. But we will make the dates."

Hits and Misses

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Born and raised in Washington, Miller has been aiming high since he peddled a Coke to President John F. Kennedy during the Washington Senators' opening game at RFK Stadium in 1962. Or so Miller says.

Miller is guardian of his own legend, throwing in self-deprecating jokes while reeling off his accomplishments: wrote his graduate thesis about the potential of Washington Harbor in Georgetown; founded a company in 1967; built Potomac Mills in the mid-1980s in Woodbridge when no one thought a discount super-mall would work; made good on his thesis with the Washington Harbor project in the late 1980s.

"What was the award I got recently?" Miller asked. "Old fart of the year? No, Washington Developer Hall of Fame."

But the flip side to Miller's greatest hits are his biggest flops. He was forced out of his first company, now called Mills Corp., in the mid-1990s when it suffered stock losses after Miller took it public; he is suing his former partners. His effort to bring the Potomac Mills concept to Japan was met with indifference. Even the Gallery Place project, with its shops, restaurants and condos next to Verizon Center in the District, was delayed for years because of financing problems and only now is booming.

"He sells things that sometimes don't seem to be sellable," said Paul Cohn, chief executive of Georgia Brown's restaurant and a friend of Miller's. "People think, 'That's not going to work. You're crazy.' But he's right more than he's wrong. He's a very creative guy, and a lot of things are going on in his head at one time. You have to rein it in at some point."

During the recent interview in his office, Miller waxed about his plan to turn sugar cane into ethanol to help the country's energy crisis, his secret effort to save the Democratic Party, his role in founding the progressive think tank Third Way and how he once hired a trainer to help a 7-foot-3 Ghanian accountant who had an office next door try out for the Washington Wizards. (He failed to make the team.)

At one point, Miller explained that he can say "hello" in several tribal languages of Nigeria and Ghana.

"And Burkina Faso," his son Ben added. "You should watch people when he does it. They're blown away."

Miller loves to talk, and perhaps that's why he entertains so often. A major Democratic fundraiser who has donated upward of $100,000 in past years to national political candidates and causes, Miller has hosted parties for Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Howard Dean.

After buying the mansion that a decade ago was a nursing home, Miller, who has five children from two marriages, spent six years and many millions of dollars renovating the place.