(202) 765-6950
About Us
HOUSING PRESERVATION | SUSTAINABILITY | cLIMATE eQUITY
Miller Beach Development LLC (Miller Beach) a community development firm, specializing in housing preservation, sustainable development, and climate equity in “overlooked and underserved” neighborhoods and commercial corridors throughout America. Our family-owned business is known historically for superior low to moderate income property management. Our projects and property acquisitions emphasize innovative and affordable housing designs and technologies to increase the housing supply, lower construction costs, and increase energy efficiency. We believe lasting climate resilience in our communities can only be achieved by focusing on the intersection of resilient housing, climate action, racial justice, economic equity.
Miller Beach is in an Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Zone, certified by the Small Business Administration (SBA). We are experienced in community engagement as well as commercial real estate acquisition and management. Our team brings experience in every phase of development from planning, financial modeling and structuring, and project management.
Meet The Team
James Forest-Hayes
PRESIDENT
Forest is president of Miller Beach LLC, his family-owned real estate firm headquartered in Leesburg, Virginia. Miller Beach owns, operates, and develops all forms of private and publicly funded affordable housing and commercial properties. He was appointed to the Virginia Housing Commission by Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. He is the first African American chairman of the Loudoun County Planning Commission. He is the former D.C. director of real estate, director of economic development for Gary, Indiana, and D.C. Housing Authority senior advisor.
Mr. Hayes and Miller Beach Development LLC are one of 15 selected from across the D.C. area for the Capital Impact/Amazon Housing Accelerator Fellowship program, being funded by the $2.5 billion Amazon Housing Equity Fund.
Forest is building Miller Beach “to achieve the all-important ‘triple bottom line’ through investing and completing development projects in communities he refers to as ‘overlooked and underserved.'”
Leonard C. Stephens Jr.
Development Manager and Finance Analyst
Leonard has been a member of the Miller Beach team from the very beginning! He is a multi-talented real estate professional with vast experience across many disciplines. After graduating cum laude from the Howard University School of Business with a degree in Marketing, Leonard spent two years as a financial analyst at the Wall Street investment bank JP Morgan Chase. After a successful National Football League (NFL) career, Leonard redoubled his focus on professional business development with a commercial banking internship at United Bank (DC) and a mortgage banking internship at United Wholesale Mortgage (MI).
TIMOTHY DUDLEY
ASSET MANAGER AND DIRECTOR OF ACQUISITIONS
Tim’s responsibilities include making recommendations on asset acquisition and managing our portfolio of assets to increase their value while minimizing risks. As an asset manager, he provides a property management platform and offers strategic oversight of professionals tasked with conducting risk analyses, preparing financial, asset management, and investment reports, reviewing policies, and developing strategies to maximize asset growth. Ultimately, Timothy Dudley is an outstanding asset manager who provides the company with unrivaled knowledge of real estate and a strong financial background.
ZAHRA OSMAN, ARM®
DIRECTOR OF PROPERTY MANAGEMENT AND SPECIAL PROJECTS
Zahra Osman brings over eight (8) years of experience in property management and customer service to the Miller Beach team as the company’s first Director of Property Management and Special Projects. In the beginning stages of her real estate career, she managed to climb the ladder very quickly. Within two years, she was administering over 600 multifamily apartment units. Zahra takes great pride in delivering the very highest level of public relations and customer service to each resident on a property or in the neighboring community. She enjoys learning about engineering and construction, and she excels at managing to a budget and managing capital expenditures.
Zahra is certified and licensed as a D.C. Property Manager, a Certified Apartment Leasing Professional of the National Apartment Association (NAA), and an Accredited Residential Manager (ARM) of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM). She is actively pursuing her Certified Property Manager (CPM) credential to enhance her real estate career.
Selected clients and strategic partners: Amazon, Capital Impact Partners, City Partners, MED Developers, City of Gary, IN, Loudoun County, VA, District of Columbia Housing Authority, Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority, L & M Development Partners, and Toll Brothers Apartment Living.
News & Facts
You’re in the Know
Hooked on housing
BY ALEX KOMA
Staff Reporter, Washington Business Journal At any given moment, Forest Hayes could be working on public housing issues in D.C., closing an affordable housing deal in Richmond, reviewing development plans in Sterling or getting ready for a fishing trip in Mexico.
Loudoun's Planning Commission Set for Overhaul
When the new Board of Supervisors takes the dais in January, one of its first jobs will be to appoint members to the county Planning Commission. And the commission will see even greater turnover than the county board, putting familiar faces on the panel and giving the rural west greater representation.
15 Developers of Color Welcomed into New Accelerator Program
Program is sponsored by a grant from the Amazon Housing Equity Fund and will support real estate developers of color focused on bringing more affordable housing to the Washington metropolitan region.