My Story: Albert Small

At 87, legendary DC developer Albert Small flips through his iPhone faster than a high schooler. When we visited yesterday, amid his vast collection of DC artifacts,he offeredcandid thoughts on real estate, as well as a personal cause he hopes will leave a mark.

We snapped Albert, co-developer of 1000 Connecticut Ave and the Somerset House condos, among others, in his 7501 Wisconsin Ave offices in Bethesda. He updated us on a cause dear to his heart: educating youth on sacrifices made during World War II (he's a veteran), especially D-Day. Summer 2013 marks the third year of a program Albert underwrites in which 15 students and 15 teachers spend time in both DC and Normandy to "realize how lucky we are to have this democracy," as he puts it. He's posing next to a poster presented to him by French Ambassador Francois Delattre in 2011.

Here's a part of the Somerset House complex, built in '88. Next Thursday (the 69th anniversary of D-Day) at the Motion Picture Association HQ on Eye Street, a film focused on the program will premiere. "The whole idea is to get young people to carry the torch into the future," Albert says. To that end, he helps bring in other WWII vets(such as former IRS commissioner Mortimer Caplan)for talks as well as visits to Arlington National Cemetery and such historic spots as Omaha Beach and the Normandy American Cemetery in France.

Elsewhere, Albert has his hands full, including overseeing the donation of his collection of DCartifacts (like this map we snapped him with yesterday) to GWU as part of a new museum to open in late 2014. When asked about the state of real estate in DC, he says infrastructure improvements could go a long way in preserving the future: "We need to go to places where they are up to speed and you can learn."