ACBJ-8921_Miller_FINAL

D.C.’s new unicorn
With a $1 billion valuation,
Appian inches toward IPO
MONEY & TECH, 18
PLAYBYHERRULES—
ORPREPAREFORAFIGHT
REAL ESTATE INC. EXTRA
Rebecca Miller has set a new tone for historic preservation in D.C.
BY DANIEL J. SERNOVITZ | PAGE 26
JOANNE S. LAWTON / STAFF
TICKLING THE IVORIES WITH JENNY BILFIELD 51
EXECUTIVE PROFILE
RStonebridge
scores year’s
biggest lease 46
RList Extra:
Virginia makes
a comeback 48
RPatriots Plaza
gets a new part
owner 50
HEALTH CARE
Hospital CEO
backs medical pot
Barry Ronan, head of Western
Maryland Health System, changed
his views when cancer hit home.
TINA REED, 14
REAL ESTATE INC.
Jarvis goes indie
Ernie Jarvis is stepping out on his
own, creating an independent
brokerage firm. He aims to hire 10
brokers. DANIEL J. SERNOVITZ, 20
FEDBIZ
‘First of many’ deals
SOSi, a Reston intelligence
contractor led by Julian Setian,
secures its first acquisition — and it’s
hungry for more. JAMES BACH, 12
TOPSHELF
Bailey’s bunch
Kyle Bailey is leaving Neighborhood
Restaurant Group to join forces
with three other longtime D.C.
restaurateurs. REBECCA COOPER, 6

FEBRUARY 5, 2016
This article appeared in the Washington Business Journal on February 5, 2016, 2015 on pages 26-28, 30. It has been reprinted by the Washington Business Journal
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WASHINGTON BUSINESS JOURNAL
THEPRACTICAL PRESERVATIONISTHOW REBECCA MILLER HAS A STRONGHOLD ON SOME OF D.C.’S MOST IMPORTANT PROJECTS
R
ebeccaMiller’sreactionto
one of D.C.’s most-talk-
ed-about redevelopment
proposals was swift and
harsh.
It was October 2013, roughly seven
months after developer Richard Levy
cast the winning, $19.5 million bid
for the West Heating Plant in George-
town.Heandhisteamsaidtheywant-
ed to tear down all but one wall of the
World War II-era building. And they
wanted to replace it, to the same 110-
foot height, with a luxury Four Sea-
sons condo building with units top-
ping $1,400 per square foot.
That wasn’t supposed to be pos-
sible. Before putting the decommis-
sionedindustrialplantontheauction
block, the General Services Adminis-
tration placed a protective covenant
on it, requiring any future alterations
to comply with the Interior Depart-
ment’s standards for historic sites.
That condition was meant to pro-
tect the building from precisely the
kinds of changes Levy and his team
proposed.
Within a month, Miller fired back.
Her response: A detailed 45-page
Rebecca Miller says her
group’s appeal for regular
maintenance of the D.C.
War Memorial was one of
her most fulfilling projects.
REBECCA MILLER
Executive director,
D.C. Preservation League
Age: 39
Family: Single, one Labrador
Residence: Shaw
Hometown: Presque Isle, Maine
Education: Bachelor’s in history, University of
San Francisco
Total compensation: $81,683
R THE BASICS

FEBRUARY 5, 2016
application that nominated the site
forprotectivelandmarkstatusatboth
the local and federal levels. It sounds
bureaucratic,butthatsinglemovetied
Levy’s hands for the next 17 months.
Finally, this past April, a divided
D.C. Historic Preservation Review
Board voted not to support the nomi-
nation. So Miller then appealed to the
National Register of Historic Places,
which has since deemed the building
eligible for its federal listing, keeping
opentheprospectofanotherbattleto
come.
Levy and his high-powered team,
including renowned architect David
Adjaye and former Mayor Anthony
Williams, had overlooked three crit-
ical things: that a historic preserva-
tionist would strike back; the time
and money they would have to spend
defending their redevelopment;
and that Miller, the straight-talking,
39-year-old executive director of the
D.C. Preservation League, doesn’t tol-
erate people who don’t play by the
rules.
“It becomes disconcerting when
there is a developer who is trying to
bully their way through the system,
because there is a process. And many
developers go through the process,
playalongwiththesystem,worktheir
way through it, which everybody else
has to do,” Miller said. “To have this
developercometotheHistoricPreser-
vation Review Board and fight — that
isnotinthespiritoftheprocess,soit’s
very disingenuous.”
Levy is not the first developer to
find himself in Miller’s crosshairs. In
justthepastyear,sheforcedtheown-
ers of the International Spy Museum
to pursue an alternate location when
itsfirstpreferenceatthehistoricCarn-
egie Library met heavy resistance.
She complicated George Washington
University’s renovation plans for the
historic Corcoran Gallery of Art by
seeking to designate nearly all of the
museum’sinteriorasalandmark.She
rounded out 2015 by calling out Rep.
Darrell Issa, R-Calif., in the pages of
this newspaper for his “asinine con-
cept” that “maybe, just maybe, the
Height of Buildings Act of 1910 needs
to be changed.” (Disclosure: Miller
writes a quarterly column on historic
preservationfortheWashingtonBusi-
ness Journal.)
Miller is the unapologetic head
of the D.C. Preservation League, a
diminutive nonprofit with just two
other employees and a roughly $1
million budget, where she considers
herself both a guardian of Washing-
ton’s past and gateway to its future.
Knownforherstrongwillandunflap-
pable demeanor, she has influenced
the outcomes of some of D.C.’s most
visible projects, from the sprawling
St. Elizabeths campus in Southeast to
theformerWalterReedArmyMedical
Center in Northwest to the D.C. War
Memorial in Southwest, to date her
favorite historic preservation project.
She has drawn criticism on both
sides of the development spectrum
along the way, accused by some as
being too cozy with the develop-
ment community and by others as
too inflexible. But if you are consid-
ering buying, renovating or razing
an historic property in D.C., you can
eitherenlisthersupportorpreparefor
a fight.
“I don’t think we have the goal out
there of wanting people to fear us,”
Miller said from the DCPL’s modest
headquarters above The Lucky Bar
nearDupontCircle.“Ithinkthatpres-
ervationneedstobeapartofthecon-
versation. And when it’s not a part of
the conversation, then it seems to be
more contentious.”
Standard operating procedure
TogetagoodideaofwhoMillerisand
what motivates her, it’s best to forget
the Hollywood image of your typical,
teetotaling historic preservationist.
Millerisn’tanotherCynthiaYoung,
Dina Merrill’s on-screen character
in “Caddyshack II” who sought to
stop new home construction in her
WHAT SHE SAID
REBECCA MILLER, UNPLUGGED
R On preserving the D.C. War Memorial,
which had fallen into disrepair in 2002 due
to uncertainty over whose responsibility it
was to maintain:
“This is a federal city, and a lot
of the city is taken over
by federal interests. So
this is something that’s
important to the people of
the District of Columbia, so
it would be important to the
Preservation League as well.”
R On alternate occupations:
“I feel like I’m right where I
want to be and doing what I
should be doing. Everybody
asks me what my hobbies
are, and I’d actually be
volunteering here if I didn’t
actually work here.”
R On California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa’s
position to change
the Height of Buildings Act of 1910:
“If Mr. Issa would like to have
a conversation about
it, I think the people of
Washington who don’t have
a vote would be happy to
have a conversation about it
as well.”
R On The Trump Organization’s renovation
of the Old Post Office, which the league
was formed in 1971 in part to save from
demolition:
“We’re really pleased that the
building is finally going
to have a use. That after
45 years trying to find
something for this building,
that it will finally come to
fruition.”

FEBRUARY 5, 2016
upscale Bushwood Country Club
neighborhood.She’snottyingherself
toanytreesorlyinginfrontofwreck-
ing balls.
To the contrary, Miller has fought
for more than a decade to debunk
the notion that historic preservation
is anti-development. Raised outside
of Baltimore, Miller remembers fam-
ily trips to the National Mall at a time
when you really didn’t want to make
any stops downtown on the way. She
takes a pragmatic approach to devel-
opment, which can often be a more
powerfultoolforhistoricpreservation
than protests or petition drives.
But that change, she contends,
has to be done in the right manner.
And that’s what irked her so much
about Levy’s proposal for West Heat-
ing Plant. Levy knew the rules, knew
that the plant was protected by Inte-
riorstandards,butstillproposedtear-
ingitdown.Levyarguedthebuilding
had deteriorated so much from age,
weather and disuse that the only way
tosaveitwastodemolishandrebuild.
Miller doubts Levy and his team tried
hard enough to come up with an
alternative plan preserving substan-
tially more of the existing structure.
Levy declined to comment, direct-
ing questions to another member of
the development team, former GSA
Public Buildings Service Commis-
sioner Bob Peck. Peck, who oversaw
historic properties while at the GSA
andpreviouslypresidedoverthepres-
ervationleague’sboard,leftthefeder-
al agency before it imposed the Inte-
rior standards as a condition of the
heating plant’s sale. Indeed, he said
he’s not sure he would have pressed
for the condition in the first place.
Thebuildingwasdesignedasapower
plant, a utilitarian structure, he said,
and it’s unrealistic to expect it could
be reused without at least punching
a few holes in its facade for additional
windows.
Now a principal in architecture
firm Gensler’s D.C. office, Peck did
not question Miller’s motivation and
commended her and the league for
advocating for the heating plant’s
preservation. But he said the DCPL
has taken public stances in the past to
increase its visibility even where suc-
cess was unlikely.
“Herfirstknee-jerkreactionshould
be to preserve it all, but I do think
that the Preservation League needs
to look at all of those issues and say:
CanIactuallygetthebuildingsaved?”
Peck said.
The league rarely takes an absolute
stand against a proposal, Miller said.
Whenitdoes,shesaid,itdoessooutof
the public interest. Such was the case
with the proposal to move the Inter-
national Spy Museum to the Carnegie
Library by Mount Vernon Triangle, a
move that would have required add-
ing 58,000 square feet to the existing
building. Miller’s input was a hard
“no” at the negotiating table. But she
points to that example as more of a
rarity than regularity.
“There are very few examples in
this city where this organization has
taken the stand that no change to this
building is acceptable,” she said. “But
in that particular instance, we felt
that that was complete and adding to
it was going to be detrimental to the
site.”
The preservationist
through the trees
Miller came to Washington in 2002,
hellbent on putting her University of
San Francisco history degree to some
use.
She landed at the DCPL as her
first job out of college in a post-Sept.
11 period when the machinery of
D.C.’s multibillion-dollar commer-
cial real estate industry was just get-
ting cranking.
Ironically, it was contractors for
Monument Realty that planted the
roots for her ascent. Their work was
devastating one of the decorative
works of landscape architect Dan
Kiley, whose modernist influences
spread from the Jefferson National
Expansion Memorial in St. Louis to
the Art Institute of Chicago. In this
case, Monument Realty planned to
redevelop Kiley’s work at Potomac
Place Tower, which opened in 1959
in Southwest D.C. Neighbors learned
about the plans and enlisted the aid
of the DCPL in early 2013 to pro-
tect the property with a landmark
nomination.
TheHPRBvotedtosupportthedes-
ignation and the city revoked Monu-
ment Realty’s work permits. But by
then, the damage was done. Contrac-
tors had torn out most of the trees,
flagstone pavers and other Kiley-
designedaccentsatthePotomacPlace
Apartments. Monument Realty ulti-
mately got the go-ahead to develop
a 302-unit, $42.3 million multifam-
ily project behind the landmarked
Potomac Place Tower, but only in
return for several conditions, includ-
ing a $450,000 donation to the DCPL
for citywide preservation efforts.
The episode would become a sem-
inal event for Miller and the league.
She would go on to exert a grow-
ing amount of influence over proj-
ects across the District. Consider the
sprawling St. Elizabeths campus in
Southeast, where the federal govern-
mentwasplanningtoconsolidatethe
nascent Department of Homeland
Security onto a single campus. Mill-
er was underwhelmed by the gov-
ernment’s initial approach to historic
preservation there.
“Theearlyplanswerenotsensitive.
The early plans called for the demoli-
tion of nearly half the historic struc-
tures,” said Miller.
Federal assets need particular pro-
tection in a city like D.C. where the
government has taken over so much
turf, she argued. It took multiple con-
sultingmeetingspermonth,buteven-
tuallythegovernmentagreedtomove
aportionofworkfromthewestcam-
pustotheeast,resultinginfewerthan

FEBRUARY 5, 2016
a dozen buildings getting marked for
demolition.
Many preservation groups in other
citieskeepdevelopersatarm’slength.
The DCPL started off that way in 1971
asanactivistgroupdubbedDon’tTear
It Down to prevent the demolition of
such historic properties as the Old
Post Office. But some say Miller and
her team are best when they become
more involved with developers and
their projects early on — to avoid situ-
ations like at Potomac Park.
Take the Union Station Redevelop-
ment Corp., for which DCPL helped
prepare a historic preservation report
last June ahead of the D.C. transit
hub’s planned multibillion-dollar
expansion project. The District also
hand-picked DCPL to administer a
$200,000 grant tied to CSX Trans-
portation Inc.’s Virginia Avenue Tun-
nel replacement.
“I take my hat off to Rebecca. She’s
got a really strong personality. She’s
vocal, she doesn’t shy away from
controversy, but she’s smart and stra-
tegic,” said Rob Nieweg, senior field
director for the National Trust for
Historic Preservation’s Washington
office. “I think some people under
that sort of pressure can lose their
head,butRebeccadoesnot,shekeeps
her composure. She can maintain a
good, strong, low boil without going
over the top.”
Get together, right now, over me
The Beatles turned a local sporting
arena into legend when, on Feb. 11,
1964, the Fab Four played their first
concertonU.S.soilattheWashington
Coliseum in Northeast D.C.
A half-century later, a sold-out
crowd of 2,700 packed into that very
same venue, now known as the Uline
Arena,toheartributebandBeatlema-
niaNowrockouttoclassicslike“Rev-
olution” and “Imagine.”
There were some other differenc-
es — attendees paid $45 to $100 for a
ticket versus the $3 it took back then
— but the event was meant to reintro- duce a new generation less attuned to
HISTORIC INTERVENTION
Few of the District’s most high-profile relocation or redevelopment projects have escaped the D.C. Preservation League’s
impact. Many have drawn action from the vocal group, which says its aim is to preserve and protect the city’s historic
and built environment.
We spotlight here just a few projects on which the DCPL, under the tenure of Executive Director Rebecca Miller, has
had its say — and sway — on the final product.
CARNEGIE LIBRARY
Location: 801 K St. NW
Proposal: To relocate the International Spy Museum from
its current location at 800 F St. NW, including adding
roughly 58,000 square feet to the building
DCPL’s intervention: Miller, in a letter to the Historic
Preservation Review Board, raised sharp opposition to the
“offensive request,” which would have nearly doubled the
size of the historic building by Mount Vernon Square,
Outcome: Events D.C. and museum owner Malrite Co.
withdrew the proposal after the HPRB rejected the concept.
They cited the need to move by early 2017 and concerns
that further modifications “would begin to compromise our
program too much,” Events D.C. CEO Greg O’Dell said.
CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART
Location: 500 17th St. NW
Proposal: Submitted by George Washington University
to extensively renovate the historic Beaux-Arts museum
near the White House after acquiring it in August 2015
DCPL’s intervention: Nominated most of the interior
for landmark status, a rare move even for the league.
Fewer than two dozen D.C. building interiors carry that
designation. The exterior, designed by architect Ernest
Flagg in 1897, had already been designated a landmark.
Outcome: The HPRB, dismissing pleas from the
university to designate only the ceremonial spaces of the
building accessible to the public, agreed with the league
and voted to support the nomination.
THIRD CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST
Location: 900 16th St. NW
Proposal: To tear down the midcentury modern church
built in 1972 and replace it with a 127,600-square-foot
trophy office building to be anchored by law firm Miller &
Chevalier, along with retail and a church.
DCPL’s intervention: The league and Committee of 100
on the Federal City sued to block the demolition and
redevelopment. The church challenged the legality of
D.C.’s landmark law as it applied to religious entities.
Outcome: The league settled with the church and
landowner ICG Properties, allowing its redevelopment on
several conditions, including ICG’s $770,000 donation to
a fund created for the research, training and preservation
of other eligible religious properties in the District.
WEST HEATING PLANT
Location: 1051-1055 29th St. NW
Proposal: To tear down all but one wall of the World War
II-era building and rebuild to the same height and mass
for luxury Four Seasons condominiums
DCPL’s intervention: The league nominated the building
for landmark status, citing the building’s industrial
heritage and architectural design under the Public
Buildings Administration of the Federal Works Agency.
Outcome: The HPRB voted not to support the
nomination at either the local or federal level. The
league successfully appealed to the National Register for
Historic Properties, which has since deemed the building
eligible for listing on the federal level.
POTOMAC PLACE APARTMENTS
Location: 800 Fourth St. SW
Proposal: To redevelop the apartment complex, which
opened in 1959 as the Capitol Park Apartments, with a
pair of six-story multifamily buildings.
DCPL’s intervention: On behalf of neighbors, it helped
nominate the complex for landmark status, in part for its
landscape architecture designed by Dan Kiley
Outcome: The HPRB voted in favor of the nomination, but
only after partial demolition of the historic landscaping.
The league settled with developer Monument Realty,
allowing it to build the new condo buildings but on
several conditions, including a $450,000 donation. Half
went to the city to survey midcentury buildings, half went
to DCPL programming.

’60s-era activism to a historic venue.
And there was another benefit. The
league held the event in partnership
withUline’sowner,DouglasDevelop-
ment Corp., and was the beneficiary
of the concert’s proceeds.
Douglas Development, also the
league’s only Landmark Partner, a
designation for those who donate in
excess of $20,000, is just one of doz-
ensofdevelopers,architectsandcon-
tractors that donate annually to the
league. Others include Uline archi-
tect Antunovich Associates, McCaf-
fery Interests Inc., and presidential
candidate Donald Trump’s real estate
arm,whichisinthemidstofconvert-
ing the Old Post Office into a luxury
hotel.
Architectural historian and DCPL
board member Peter Sefton, who
attended the 50th anniversary event,
said he is mindful the league relies
in part on donations from the same
developers and architects that seek
the league’s review for their projects.
“Internally, you have to keep it in
the back of your mind, ‘Am I being
co-opted?’” he said, adding that
preservation alone is not the only
way to ensure a building’s survival.
“My bottom line is, the developers
have saved a lot more buildings than
preservationists.”
Regarding the murmured criti-
cism in the industry, Miller says the
league is “not a pay-to-play organi-
zation.” “We are fairly diverse in how
wereceiveourdonations,soifanyone
developer were to pull their funding,
itdoesnotaffectthebottomline,”she
said.
Others say the league’s work with
developers has led it to compromise
itself. They point to the American
AssociationofMedicalCollege’shead-
quartersbuildingat655KSt.NWasa
prime example.
Douglas Development needed to
create a site large enough to accom-
modate the AAMC, which wanted to
relocatefrom2501MSt.NW.Tocreate
enough density for the project, Miller
worked with the developer to uproot
andmoveseveralhistoricbuildingsin
the block bounded by New York Ave-
nue, Sixth, K and Seventh streets NW
closer together.
ToErikHein,theprojectresembled
a cruise ship that crashed into a row
of historic buildings.
“It called into question basic pres-
ervation efforts,” said Hein, executive
director for the National Conference
ofStateHistoricPreservationOfficers.
“Preservation is often so much about
compromise, and every jurisdiction
will come up with a different answer
to that. But if you’re looking at it from
an ideological standpoint, you do
find yourself questioning, ‘What are
we doing?’ Ultimately, I think that’s
unfortunate. I think that outcome is
kind of sad.”
Hein, who co-chairs the Commit-
tee of 100’s historic preservation sub-
committee and worked under Mill-
er at the DCPL from 2007 to 2009,
said the two organizations have been
on the same page with many proj-
ects including the Corcoran and West
Heating Plant.
But Hein said the league has also
put itself in an awkward position by
acceptingdonationsfromdevelopers,
which can create the appearance of a
conflictofinterest,whiletheCommit-
tee of 100 does not. Still, he said, Mill-
er is a hard bargainer and not one to
cave easily.
“At the end of the day, I think we’re
better off,” Hein said. “When you’re
coming up against developers in a
competitive market like D.C., you
have to be strong because if you can’t
give it back they will run over you.”
TheAAMCredevelopmentwasone
of several adaptive reuse projects for
Douglas Development, which has a
penchantforfindingnewusesforhis-
toric properties like Uline, the Hecht
WarehouseDistrictinIvyCityandthe
WonderBreadFactoryinShaw.Atthe
same time, the developer frequently
makes changes to those properties
thatwouldnotgooverwellwithpres-
ervation purists. Uline, for example,
will feature private rooftop terraces
that will alter the appearance of the
vaulted roof, made of thin reinforced
concrete that was considered revolu-
tionary at its completion in 1941.
Douglas Development Princi-
pal Norman Jemal said Uline’s lack
of windows or divided floors would
have made it near impossible to mar-
ket it as anything but a concert venue
orsportingarena.Thatdoesnotmean
he is being unfaithful to a building’s
character or heritage, he said.
“To have a vacant, barrel-vaulted
building that’s really, really interest-
ing,andwasrevolutionaryatthetime
it was built, that has no use today is
not a good thing, right?” Jemal said.
“Tohaveabuildingthatpeopleappre-
ciate and have access to and that fits
intothecommunity—youwalkafine
line.”
Sometimes,preservationistssay,it’s
amatterofthelesserofallevils.Inthe
case of AAMC, the notion of moving
buildings didn’t initially go over well
with DCPL’s board — the group could
have pursued landmark designation
for the historic buildings. But if it did
andtheHistoricPreservationReview
Boardrejectedtheapplication,Doug-
laswouldhavebeenfreetotearthem
downcompletely.Thiswasacompro-
mise that architect Shalom Baranes,
a former league board member and
project committee chairman, said
Miller was instrumental in propos-
ing and building consensus around.
“Whenwestartedoutonthatproj-
ect, we realized that was going to be
impossible to do unless we were
going to pick up and group those
buildings,” said Baranes, whose firm
designedthenearly290,000-square-
foot building. “She was able to con-
vince us to save it and do more than
what was required.
“Itultimatelysatisfiedeverybody,”
headded,“butnobodywashappy.”
FEBRUARY 5, 2016

ACBJ-8921_Miller_FINAL

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