Larry Miller: "Absolutely Pivotal" to Ogden's Junction Project

Enlightening information from the Standard-Examiner, concerning business interactions between Larry Miller and Boss Godfrey

Fascinating front page article in this morning's Standard-Examiner, about Larry Miller, Utah's quirky business mogul/philanthropist who was laid to rest this weekend. Charlie Trentleman provides some very enlightening information concerning the machinations between Miller and Boss Godfrey, in connection with Miller's Megaplex 13 Theater complex at The Junction.

Godfrey relates his story about his initial meeting with Miller, at a time when Miller (and his advisers) were skeptical about the economic feasibility of the proposed theater project. Godfrey initially won Miller over with a combination of his ever-engaging charm and plain old-fashioned American "get your foot in the door" sales technique:

Godfrey said making the first approach was still scary.
“Obviously, he’s a really busy guy, but we bagged him in his office for just 15 minutes, and I told him I had my pitch down.”
He ended up spending more than an hour...

(Anyone who has ever been "bagged" for a short Godfrey sales pitch has to feel extreme empathy for poor old Larry at this point in the narrative. The last time Godfrey tried to sell your blogmeister on one of his knuckle-headed ideas, the discussion extended over two consecutive days.)

And here's an interesting passage, gleaned from a point downward in today's Trentelman story, revealing why Boss Godfrey admired Larry Miller oh so very much. It turns out that Godfrey pegs Miller as a philosophical bird-of-a-feather.... They were two peas in a pod, from Godfrey's perspective, at least:

Why Miller?
“He’s different from everybody else,” Godfrey said. “He does things because he wants to, not because the formula says it makes sense.”

Although this nicely sums up Godfrey's economic development philosophy, as Emerald City lumpencitizens have painfully learned over the years, we're not so sure it was universally true of Miller, who had a reputation for normally being a shrewd business negotiator and planner.

In the end, Miller went ahead with the project in this instance however (according to Mr. Trentelman,) mainly because of Godfrey's appeal to Miller's strong sense of community... and not because the project made economic sense.

It's an interesting article, well worth a read.

And when you get done reading... don't forget to come back with your pithy comments.