THE HISTORY BEHIND MILLER GLOBAL PROPERTIES
Micky Miller started his professional career in 1955, at the age of 23, when he began practicing law. He soon became a Partner in the prestigious firm Isaacson, Rosenbaum and Miller, specializing in Real Estate, Corporate, Estate, and Business law.
In the early 1960s, Micky got involved with a 2900-acre tract of land adjacent to Denver as he represented his extended family who had purchased the land in 1934 for cattle grazing. He orchestrated the annexation of the land by the city of Denver, which was the largest single annexation to the City in the 20th Century, and he helped negotiate to get three interchanges built on the land off I-70 as part of the condemnation for the right-of-way that was needed.
Micky conceptualized, created, and coordinated a complex set of joint ventures to zone, subdivide, and develop the land which became known as Montbello. There was a 600-acre industrial park that sold out in five years with over 100 sale transactions and, by the early 1990s, there was a residential community with a population of over 30,000 people. Micky also co-directed, managed, and coordinated ownership ventures throughout the entire development and ownership of this land that included 26 of the industrial buildings, 1250 apartment units, five office buildings, retail properties, and a Hilton hotel.
In 1969, Micky left his law practice to devote his full-time to real estate. He joined Urban Investment & Development Co., a Chicago-based real estate company owned by Aetna Life & Casualty. At that time, Urban was one of the largest real estate development companies in the country. Micky served as Executive Vice-President and was in charge of the entire Western Region, everything West of Chicago. He opened an office for Urban in Denver where he was responsible for creating and developing a variety of property types.
At Urban, Micky first developed the 250,000 square foot Lincoln Center office building in downtown Denver. That followed with four more buildings in the heart of Denver’s CBD – the Wells Fargo building, the Johns Manville building, the mixed-use MCI office tower, and 613-room Denver Marriott Hotel, and the 50-story award-winning 1801 California Tower. This three-square block, four-building complex contained more than 3 million square feet of space, over 3,500 parking spaces, and the largest outdoor plaza in downtown Denver.
In January 1978, during the middle of this office complex development, Micky left Urban and formed a partnership with wealthy Denver oilman, Marvin Davis. The first deal Micky orchestrated for Miller-Davis Co. was to buy a 50% interest in that downtown Denver office complex. Miller-Davis and Urban were partners on this and many other real estate transactions in the following years.
Miller-Davis Co., which later became Miller-Klutznick-Davis-Gray or “MKDG”, was involved in the ownership, development, and management of several world-class real estate properties throughout the United States. Their holdings included the Pebble Beach Company, Aspen Skiing Company, the Fox Plaza office tower (also known as Nakitomi Tower in the movie “Die Hard”), the Water Garden office complex, the Reston Town Center, the Beverly Hills Hotel, and the 75/101 Federal Street building in Boston.
After graduating college and touring Europe singing with the renowned Yale Whiffenpoofs, Jimmy Miller joined his father Micky in the real estate business in December 1978. Initially, Jimmy worked on office leasing and successfully leased over five-million square feet of office space. He later got involved in all aspects of office and hotel properties including project management, construction, development, acquisitions, operations, asset management, financing, and dispositions.
Micky orchestrated and negotiated the sale of the Pebble Beach Company (they developed the Inn at Spanish Bay Resort and Condominiums) to a Japanese investment company in 1990. As the future of the economy and the real estate industry seemed questionable at the time, Micky proceeded to coordinate and negotiate the disposition of all Miller-Davis assets. The amicable separation from Davis was completed in 1993 with the final disposition of the Aspen Skiing Company (they developed the Little Nell Hotel and acquired The Snowmass Club).
In July 1993, Micky and Jimmy formed Miller Properties Group, with Micky as Chairman and Jimmy as President. They quickly formed a partnership with Rockefeller Associates Realty to acquire two office buildings in downtown Denver. This led to a discussion with another wealthy Denver oilman, Philip Anschutz.
In January 1994, Miller-Anschutz was formed to acquire existing properties primarily in the Denver area. Over the next two years, Miller-Anschutz acquired several properties, most notably Tabor Center in downtown Denver which consisted of an office tower, the Westin Hotel, and retail space. The strategy of Miller-Anschutz, much like it was at Miller-Davis, was to find deals, put them together with financing, and then bring in an additional joint-venture partner.
In 1994, Miller-Anschutz acquired a suburban Denver office building after narrowly outbidding Global Holdings for the building. Global Holdings is a diversified company owned by the Ofer family. The Ofers initially made their fortune in the container shipping business and have branched out into real estate, cruise lines, oil and gas, and several other businesses. Soon after Miller-Anschutz acquired that building, they brought in Global as a partner. Miller-Anschutz and Global bought other buildings together in the ensuing years.
In 1996, it was decided that Global would become the primary financial partner with Miller Properties Group and they then formed Miller Global Properties. Anschutz continued to invest with Miller Global for several more years. Later that year, they created a real estate fund, with Colorado PERA as their first institutional investor.
Miller Global is now working on its ninth real estate fund. As with MG Funds I-VIII, Miller Global Fund IX will continue to focus on the acquisition and development of high-quality office buildings and hotels throughout the United States.
Property highlights from Miller Global Funds include the 875 3rd Avenue office building in New York City, the Apple building in Austin, the Arrow Electronics building in Denver, and the Algonquin Hotel in New York City. The most notable asset was the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa and TPC San Antonio. Jimmy began working on this project in 2005 and was key to the development, financing, operation, and ultimate disposition of this asset. Opening in 2010, this property contained 1002 rooms, over 200,000 square feet of meeting/event space, a spa, a 10-acre water park, seven restaurants, and two Championship TPC golf courses. The property was sold in 2018.
During his over 50 years as a real estate professional, Micky has been personally involved in the development, acquisition, management, and disposition of an estimated 75-million square feet of buildings, including high-rise CBD office buildings, suburban office buildings, mixed-use projects, hotels, retail complexes, industrial parks, apartments, condominiums, ski and golf resorts, health clubs, real estate subdivisions, office parks and various land ventures. In Denver, Micky’s companies have owned, managed and operated a total of 13 downtown office buildings and 28 southeast suburban office buildings.
Micky’s companies have also owned and operated 20 hotels throughout the U.S., 12 of which were developed from the ground up and eight of which were acquired. Hotel flags have included Marriott, Hilton, Westin, Hyatt, and the Four Seasons. His companies have been involved in real estate and development in over 40 cities in six countries.
Micky’s companies have been involved in over 240 joint-ventures with partners such as Prudential Insurance Company, Marriott International, Texaco, Burlington Northern Railroad, the Crown Family, the Pritzker Family, Sam Zell, Gerald Hines, and John Cushman, to name a few. More recent partners include AT&T Pension Fund, The Principal Financial Group, Traveler’s Insurance, State Farm Insurance, Barings, and Arizona PSPRS.
Micky and Jimmy are very proud of their 42-years working together. They are most proud of their reputation, which has been built on integrity, honesty, hard work, and professionalism. Their hands-on approach to all of their assets and their years of experience provide a tremendous groundwork for making successful investment decisions. Micky’s career is exceptional and Jimmy has earned the respect and admiration of his peers, staff and partners. They look forward to carrying on their tradition of excellence with Miller Global Fund IX and beyond.
