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)

Carol Joynt, a friend who operates Nathans restaurant in Georgetown, said Miller loves to grab a microphone and sing for his guests: "When his son Daniel had his bar mitzvah, Herb hired a big band wearing white jackets, and Herb took the mike and began singing Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra."

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Miller's impressive socializing has another motive: to get close to the people he needs for his business deals.

On March 5, Miller and his wife, Patrice, hosted a 70th birthday party for Ward 8 council member and former mayor Marion Barry (D), a $1,000-per-head event that raised money for a scholarship fund.

To say Miller is tight with city officials is an understatement. Council member Jack Evans's back yard touches Miller's, and Evans's dog has roaming privileges. Miller phoned Barry on the dais Feb. 7 and helped persuade Barry to change his vote and support the stadium project so the council could finally approve a lease agreement.

"I wouldn't put anything past Herb Miller," said council member Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5), who is running for mayor and held a birthday fundraiser at Miller's home this spring. "I think what Herb does is sell the success of his portfolio."

Miller also gives money. This year, he, his wife, his company and his son Ben have donated $15,000 to D.C. political campaigns. The gifts include $6,000 to council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D), who is running for mayor, and $2,500 to Cropp's chief competitor, council member Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4).

"He's his own economic development machine," said Mitchell N. Schear, president of Charles E. Smith Commercial Realty.

City politicians are so friendly with Miller that competitors have been crying favoritism since Barry, then mayor, awarded him the hotly contested Washington Harbor project. Miller is hardly apologetic.

Before Major League Baseball returned to Washington, Miller was in the thick of the mayor's push for a franchise. In 2004, Miller was hawking his plan to build underground parking and aboveground development at Banneker Overlook, at the foot of L'Enfant Promenade.

When Williams landed the Montreal Expos and announced that a stadium would be built near South Capitol Street and the Navy Yard along the Anacostia River, Miller was touting a massive development plan that included parking a Navy destroyer in the Anacostia to house a museum. The poster board with the plan dated Jan. 19, 2005, still hangs on the door in Evans's council office.

When the mayor's staff sat across from the Lerner group two months ago to begin negotiations, it was Miller, more than anyone else, who offered the strategic plans to match the mayor's vision.

Miller was not present at most of the meetings, but city officials used his designs as the basis for their insistence that integrated development could work and to rebuff the Lerners' demand for free-standing parking garages.

Drinking coffee from a "Gallery Place: The Groundbreaking" mug, Miller tried to play down the tension between him and the Lerner group. "It's not about me and the Lerners," he said. "They're good people."

Then Miller got back to self-promotion. Having recently put his home on the market for $28 million -- believed to be the highest listing in D.C. history for a private residence -- Miller vowed to buy a condo in the buildings he hopes to erect near the new ballpark.

"Mark Lerner lives in my building on the Washington Harbor," Miller said of Theodore Lerner's son. "I'm going to live in the building at their stadium."

Staff writer Dana Hedgpeth contributed to this report.