In D.C., It's Big Names Vs. a Litigious Developer

In July, Bender gave his second wife, Grace, a 60th birthday party at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The couple transformed the space into Hotel Nacional, a Havana landmark where Grace Bender grew up as the daughter of the hotel manager. They flew in cigar rollers from Miami for the 350 guests, hired two Latin bands and commissioned a cake reproduction of the Nacional from a celebrity baker in Manhattan. Morton Bender balked at the hotel's charge for 20 pounds of caviar and insisted on bringing in his own, less expensive caviar. The catering director objected. Bender won.

Bender is currently suing Independence Federal Savings Bank, the District bank where he is the largest shareholder. He tried to take control of the bank last fall, but shareholders rejected his candidates for the board of directors. So Bender filed suit, alleging that the election was tainted by improprieties. In the preliminary stage, Bender won.

When Bender realized that the law firm representing him before the zoning board on the Chain Bridge Road project was also representing Independence in its fight against him, he pointed out the conflict, he said. The firm stopped representing him. The lawyer involved, Holland and Knight partner Norman "Chip" Glasgow Jr., declined to comment.

"I'm fit to be tied," Bender said. "I'm going to sue them."

For years, Bender has wrangled with the District over the tax rate for six vacant historic buildings on N Street NW near the Tabard Inn. He bought them 18 years ago for $8 million cash and has tried to win approval to turn them into a hotel.

He has also fought the city over its assessment of his home, the former Korean Embassy in Massachusetts Avenue Heights. The city assessed the eight-bedroom, nine-bath house resembling a French chateau at $3.2 million in 2002; Bender argued it was worth $2.2 million, and the taxes should have been lower. He lost that one.

"I stand up to be counted," Bender is fond of saying. "No one stands up for rights anymore."

The Battle of Chain Bridge Road comes to a head tomorrow, when the Board of Zoning Adjustment holds the fifth and final hearing on the matter. It began in 2002, when Bender paid $6 million for two pieces of land on the road.

One tract was anchored by a modest house, which Bender demolished. The smaller lot held the vacant Chain Bridge Road School, used by the children of freed slaves who lived along the road after the Civil War. The original one-room 1865 schoolhouse was replaced by a two-floor stucco structure in 1923, which closed as a school in 1941 but remained on the property.

Right after Bender bought the lots, the neighbors got the school named a historic landmark, ensuring he couldn't knock it down and limiting the development potential.

"They started the war," Bender said.

Early discussions between Bender and the neighbors about his plans went nowhere. He ended up suing one neighbor over a retaining wall that encroached 15 inches onto his new property. He won in D.C. Superior Court but not before the judge questioned why Bender brought the case.