Stars Come Out at Henry S Miller Cos100th Anniversary Fete
In its first 100 years, the Henry S Miller Cos developed the Preston Royal shopping center, inked the lease for Neiman Marcus downtown, and owned or leased some of the most prominent properties in North Texas. Last night, we joined HSM to celebrate the occasion at Dallas Country Club.
A panel of DFW commercial real estate veterans shared their memories of HSM and the men who led its first 100 years: Henry S Miller Sr, Henry S Miller Jr and Vance Miller. The legendary lineup of HSM veterans: Virginia Cook, Wayne Swearingen, Greg Miller, Herb Weitzman and Roger Staubach. Greg says he’s standing on the shoulders of giants in his role as president of HSM (he's the fourth generation to run the company). Greg says the recent reorganization of the leadership of the company is only part of the new direction of HSM. The firm recently relocated after 20 years in the same office, too. There’s new development projects in the finance stages now, single-family lot development coming and new hires.
We snapped Herb (who tells us he's stepping down as The Weitzman Group CEO, but will remain active in the company as executive chairman), Henry Miller III, Donna Weitzman (Herb’s wife and a great businesswoman in her own right, working on some major 2015 events with TWG and Cencor), and another HSM family member, Michael Miller. Herb tells us Henry Jr and Juanita were instrumental in helping Dallas grow its arts community. Herb credits Henry Jr with being an incredible mentor, noting that he hopes to continue that tradition in his own career.
Bisnow sat with Wayne (who now works with Glacier Commercial Realty, but founded the Swearingen Co in 1962) and David Little Real Estate’s David Little. Wayne says Henry Jr taught him the importance of relationships and demonstrated honesty and integrity in all he did. He also recalls one of Henry Jr’s signs on his desk: Is it fair and just. “All I’ve learned from him I’ve tried to pass on,” Wayne tells us. He enjoys looking around the industry and seeing the brokers he’s mentored over the years, he says.
We’re trying our best to capture the market on selfies. Here’s our DFW reporter, Tonie Auer, with Roger Staubach and his wife, Merianne. Roger tells us he had two mentors as a young man: Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry and Henry Jr. Roger worked two jobs from 1970-1977: at HSM in the off-season and with the Cowboys during football season. His first sale earned him a $10k commission check, which was great since he was only making $25k a year with the Cowboys at the time. Right after winning the Super Bowl, he got a telegram from Henry Jr congratulating him on that and promoting him to VP.
