About Us

PHILOSOPHY
It all starts with the land.

Livable communities don’t happen by accident. They happen when talented individuals take a personal interest in creating something special. At Miller and Smith, we think every community should be special.

The first step in the process is to understand the land. We begin by researching, walking, and getting to know the land and the surrounding neighborhood, the community’s story and vision gradually emerge and become clear. Who will want to live in this community? What is the right mix of housing? What amenities will make it special? What natural features should be preserved? The land will reveal what is needed to create a vibrant and livable community.

Of course, the community doesn’t get created just by thinking about it. There are many steps from the initial acquisition of the property through planning, zoning, construction, and all the way to the planting of the last bit of landscaping that must be completed properly for a community to become a reality. Our ability to execute these steps professionally in an economically feasible way and with a high degree of quality and innovation is what sets our communities apart.

The future residents of our communities deserve nothing less.

At Miller & Smith, we’ve been creating special communities since 1964. Not because it’s our job, but because it’s our passion and what we love to do. You can see the care with which we develop our communities in how they grow up in the years and even decades after we have completed them.

Wessynton, a community we created in Mt. Vernon, Virginia nearly 40 years ago was recently profiled in a Washington Post article entitled “A Front Row Seat To History.” In the article, a new homeowner praised the community saying, “the minute we turned onto Cunningham Drive, I knew we were in a different place.” He went on to describe the things that his family loves about the community as “the ambiance, the trees, practically living on the Potomac, and the astonishing amenities.”

Hearing such praise for a community we developed in the 1960’s means more to us than any of the dozens of industry awards we have won. After all, how a community evolves over time is the truest measure of a developer’s vision and expertise.

Today, in addition to Wessynton, you’ll find 86 more special Miller & Smith communities growing up throughout Greater Washington and the Mid-Atlantic region. From award-winning planned developments like Victory Lakes in Prince William County and Eastside in Montgomery County, to large-scale mixed-use communities like One Loudoun in Loudoun County, our legacy continues to grow.

As always, the foundation of our success is our commitment to keeping the promises we make and, above all, our passion for creating special communities to call home.

PRIVATE VS. PUBLIC
Main St. not Wall St.

Everyone on the Miller & Smith land development team lives, shops, and plays right here in the Washington area. Unlike some development companies whose resources and commitments are spread out all over the country, we’re entirely focused on the Greater Washington and the Mid-Atlantic region.

Being local helps shape our business practices as well as our approach to developing communities. We live in and around the communities we create so we feel personally accountable to our neighbors. Rest assured we work hard to earn the trust and support of our neighbors every single day.

In addition to being local, we’re independent. We don’t answer to public shareholders. We also don’t act or react just to meet quarterly numbers. Rather, we take a long-term view and set goals, budgets and business objectives that extend five years or more into the future.

We believe taking a long term perspective fosters creativity and enables Miller and Smith to develop distinctive communities.

LAND TEAM
A wealth of experience.

We may be a local, hometown developer, but the breadth of our team’s experience extends coast to coast. Many of our expert planners, designers, developers and marketers spent years working for national development companies, creating world-class and many environmentally sensitive communities in places like Monterey and Malibu, California; Seattle, Washington; and Vero Beach, Florida.

We can confidently say that our team’s wealth of knowledge and experience is as extensive as any other development group in the country, and our passion for creating truly unique and special communities is second to none.

From acquiring land and structuring deals, to navigating zoning issues, to developing infrastructure and preparing homesites for builders, we’re adept in every facet of land development.

We have successfully created communities of every size and scope imaginable and have successfully managed mixed-use, infill, retail, redevelopment, resort, commercial, industrial, age-restricted, water-oriented, and rental properties.

To see the results of our labor of love, please click on our portfolio of residential, commercial and mixed-use communities.