Business I entrepreneurships

Their Ticket from page A31

recently to become the company's
communications director — the
fourth generation of the family to
work in the business.
"Not only that, but we own an 11-
acre parking area across the street
from the Pontiac Silverdome," said
Jim Miller. "That was great when the
Lions and Pistons played there, but
the Silverdome has been empty for
years now [although it's currently
being considered for redevelopment
by several companies]. "It's a con-
tinual challenge to obtain good, new
parking locations anywhere in the
metro area."
On the positive side, Miller
Parking Co. charges $1.50 for a half
hour and $15 for 24 hours at the
downtown structure ("compared
to $40 in Manhattan:' Miller points
out), and other lots are flourishing
around the city, including lots next

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The things we do for dreams'

1395640

A32 July 10 • 2008

An unusual
aspect of the
business is that
they're selling
a service that
everyone wants
free.

to the riverside Chene Park, which is
a busy venue for concerts and high
school graduations; the revitalized
Music Hall for the Performing Arts
downtown, and the old, but still in-
use Wayne County Court building.
The Millers also operate Miller
Valet Parking Co. in Southfield,
which handles about 200 special-
ized parking events a year, such as
private parties and shivah houses,
mainly in the northern suburbs.
There are 130 employees in the
Miller offices and lots, a far cry
from the late 1920s when Nathan
Miller came to the Detroit area from
Massachusetts to work for a parking
lot entrepreneur, who was acquiring
lots around the city.
"My father then got going in
the parking lot business as a one-
man operation, strictly on his own,
using his own money and business
know-how:' said Bruce Miller, who
is now semi-retired. He and his wife,
Dorie, live in Bloomfield Hills. "His

business got a big boost when he
re-negotiated 30 parking lot leases
during the Depression days of the
1930s."
Nathan Miller died at the age of 76
in 1975.
Bruce, who has an engineering
degree from Illinois Technological
University and a business degree
from the University of Michigan,
worked in his father's lots as a teen-
ager. "That was an era when the
parking lot employees always parked
the cars for the drivers:' he said.
"They didn't just sit in the shack and
hand them a ticket as they left."
Jim Miller graduated from Detroit
Country Day School in Beverly Hills
and got an economics degree from
the University of Michigan, where
he met Arleen, a French major. They
both graduated from Wayne State
University's law school in Detroit.
While not many French people park
cars in Detroit, Arleen says, "Our law
backgrounds are invaluable in the
day-to-day operation of a business?'
The Millers also have two sons:
Nathan, who is involved in Internet
businesses, and David, an Oakland
University student. The family
belongs to Temple Emanu-El in
Oak Park and created the Miller
Family Cancer Research Fund at the
Weizmann Institute of Science in
Rehovot, Israel. Jim is on the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's
Real Estate Committee.
"The Millers are really a hamishe
family:' said employee Gayle Docks
of West Bloomfield. "Besides run-
ning a family-owned, successful
business, they are very involved in
the Jewish community."
An unusual aspect of the busi-
ness is that they are selling a ser-
vice that everyone wants free. "Just
think about it:' said Jim. "All drivers
would like to park free wherever
they go and park absolutely as close
as possible to where they're going.
So we have to convince people that
there's usually no such thing as a
`free lunch' in life or, in our case,
no such thing as free parking. For
example, people may think they're
parking free at a shopping mall, but
the stores really bury the cost some-
where in the price of the merchan-
dise they sell."
Despite cyclical downturns,
experts expect the auto business to
last forever — in one form or anoth-
er and, added Jim Miller, "There will
always be cars and trucks for the
Miller Parking Co. to park?' 0