Herb Miller
of Western Development

Herb Miller of Western Development, (3rd from left); with D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans; Washington Nationals President Stan Kasten; and DC Sports and Entertainment Commission board member and Winston & Strawn attorney William Hall. Illustration from The Washington Post.

From Jacqueline Dupree:

All About Herb
(7/24 11:00 PM) "Behind the Vision for a Ballpark District is a Man of Big Ideas" is a front-page story in Tuesday's Post about Herb Miller, the DC developer who persuaded the Mayor and the City Council to take a chance on his $300 million plan to wrap the 900 required parking spaces at the north end of the new Nats ballpark with condos, retail, and a hotel. (I'd quibble with the sense from the headline that this project is the entire Ballpark District, because it's not, but we digress.) While the plan has passed the City Council, it still requires approval from the Lerners (cue ominous music), who according to the article refer in private to the two structures as "Godzilla" and "Mothra" (scroll to the first rendering on my ballpark page to see the design as submitted to the Zoning Commission in June). The Lerners are to review Miller's plans and financing strategy early next month. So no, it's still not over. UPDATE: Wow, they changed the headline, it's now a much better "DC Developer Sways the City with Big Bucks and Big Ideas."

From DCist:

(July 12, 2006) Yesterday, at its last meeting before taking their summer recess, the D.C. City Council approved the sale of a large parcel of land which sits north of the new Nationals stadium site along South Capitol Street and N Street SE to developer Herb Miller, for $61 million. As part of the deal, Miller will include a large stadium-dedicated parking lot with 925 spaces for cars in his planned mixed-use development, which will count toward the 1,225 parking spaces required to be built by the city, according to their deal with Major League Baseball.

Herb Miller of Western Development Company not only helped persuading DC officials to approve the mixed use condo garages along the south side of N Street SE, but also the new baseball stadium itself jammed along the east side of South Capitol Street.

In particular, Herb Miller has played a role with persuading DC Councilmember Vincent B. Orange Sr.:

Tuesday, April 11: Orange parties with developer Herb Miller at his Georgetown mansion! To celebrate Orange's 49th birthday--and allegiance to spending more than $600 million on a baseball stadium--Miller is throwing a shindig normally reserved for politicos like neighbor Jack Evans. The host committee includes hardball devotees--D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission members Mark Tuohey and William Hall--as well as slots lovers John Ray and Pedro Alfonso.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcwire/2006/04/april_is_vincent_b_orange_sr_m.html