At the Post Office
His project is the mixed-used building proposed for what may also be known as the Post Office parking lot, across the street from City Hall.
As a young man, naturally he exudes confidence.
I think the City Council is going to weigh all of the issuesw, Mr. Miller said, and it is going to be a positive result.
His partner whom he joined a year ago is the accomplished developer/architect/entrepreneurJudit Meda Fekete, President/CEO of SPF: architects, housed in an attractive butterscotch-and-vanilla multi-purpose building on East Washington Boulevard, a hub of Culver Citys bouquet of cultural roses, the expanding Art District.
Filing Away Notes
Hoping to mine clues last week that could be helpful in the future, Mr. Miller studied the Councils opening volleys in a long-term plan to substantively decrease the number of housing units permitted per acre.
Not that the discussion will directly affect the chances of Mr. Miller and Ms. Fekete in seeking to reverse the unanimous turndown issued recently by the Planning Commission.
Soaring Speedily
Mr. Miller is one of those fast-moving and youthful meteors of commerce streaking across the skies above Culver City, a personal dimension that elevates 9900 Culver beyond the realm of the ordinary.
Only in his third year out of George Washington University, he is actually a hometown boy even if his parents did live in Beverly Hills.
Culver City Roots
He is a son of the Miller family that operated an auto dealership, Culver City Nissan Mazda, just east of Downtown for 35 years.
An enormously energized man in a very large hurry, his mind and his tongue race to see which can share a thought first with Mr. Millers listener.
He has plans, and he already has arranged his priorities.
When I went to school in Washington, he says, I thought I wanted to go into politics. I still do. But not for awhile.
An Early Objective
I want to go into politics because I want to effect positive change.
Here is why.
You can do as much as you can philanthropically, locally, civically. But to really be able to effect true change, you need to be at the political level.
Not unlike other fast-track leaders of his generation, he began early to develop a pattern of conquests on the road to a lofty goal.
I started interning very early, at investment banks and real estate firms, Mr. Miller said. I soon realized a lot of what I want to do in politics, I can actually do in business.
He Had Clarity
Especially in real estate development.
I was fortunate enough to gain a lot a experience while I was in college and during summers.
Still only 25 years old, he lit a match in his life by going into his present field, real estate development, joining the Kor company.
Time to Climb
By a year ago, Mr. Miller was restless.
He started turning up at 8633 Washington Blvd., the breezy four-story, 26,000-square foot, environmentally sensitive building that Ms. Fekete designed and built a little more than three years ago.
Just as City Halls vision of a burgeoning Art District east of Downtown was burgeoning.
The Crest of a Dream
The glass-and-open spaces SPF: architects building that Ms. Fekete says is the culmination of a lifelong dream accelerated the blossoming of a neighborhood that was in mid-gentrification.
Ms. Fekete recently won an award from the American Institute of Architects for creating the best mixed-use project in Culver City.
In a bow to environmental and open space concerns, only two of the four stories in her building are utilized, with the ceilings ranging 20 feet tall.
On the Inside
In addition to her architecture firm, where three dozen architects work in an atmosphere that must feel as if they are cavorting in the outdoors, 8633 also houses the Museum of Design Art + Architecture which offers four of five openings a year and Wilson, a smart 6-days-a-week restaurant featuring California/Italian cuisine.
While each of them has a separate company Mr. Miller is President of Runyon Partners together they are partners in Uptown Lofts LLC.
In the Beginning
Mr. Millers casual conversations with Ms. Fekete a year ago began to link, from the preceding one to the present one to the next one.
Before long, they were working beneath a common roof, pursuing ambitious dual visions that are not so common.
(To be continued on Monday)
