The Deal That Sealed National Harbor

Partnership Between Developer, Pr. George's Leader Brought Project to Life

By Jackie Spinner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 25, 2008; Page B01

The deal that led to the making of National Harbor happened not over a handshake, but a stare.

As Wayne K. Curry recalled, there were two men in the room, he and Milton V. Peterson. They were the perfect pair: Curry, a flamboyant lawyer and the first black elected county executive in Prince George's County, and Peterson, an ambitious Northern Virginia developer.

During that meeting in the early 1990s, Curry and Peterson were discussing public financing for National Harbor when they got into a verbal battle. They sent their aides out of the room and then just stared at each other.

"The development definitely stopped for a minute while we looked at each other," Curry said recently over lunch. In the end, Curry threw his support behind Peterson's project. The men reached an understanding: If the project was going to be built, it would take a partnership, a little give and take.

Today, as Peterson and county officials -- although not Curry -- will celebrate the grand opening of the first phase of the $4 billion National Harbor in Oxon Hill, it's clear that the public-private partnership was key to developing a prime piece of real estate that had languished for decades.

Source: Washington Post. View Article.

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