THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 20, 1996 TAG: 9605180219
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY STEPHANIE STOUGHTON, BUSINESS WEEKLY
LENGTH: 140 lines
Harvey L. Lindsay Jr. learned much of the real estate business from his father, a visionary who plunged headfirst into everything from a restaurant chain to the Sandbridge development, wealthy one year and nearly broke the next.
``I think he had one of the best real estate minds I've ever known,'' Lindsay said. ``He had this vision. He was ahead of his time.''
Lindsay Jr. is as outspoken as his father, who passed away in 1969. But at 66, he is more careful, painstakingly so. The man who expanded his father's company and helped build a share of Norfolk's skyline quietly moved away from the development business.
These days, he's more likely to be behind the deal than in front of it. The former developer is now a commercial real estate broker involved in projects like Tidewater Community College in downtown Norfolk.
``I made a conscious decision five years ago not to be a developer,'' Lindsay said. ``No, I don't miss it. It was very filled with tension and stress. I had a hard time dealing with it.''
Lindsay's business, Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate, now manages or leases 8 million square feet of property. It also manages finances for 19 shopping centers from New Jersey to Florida.
``I feel like we're doing what we do best now,'' Lindsay said. ``It's hard to do both. I don't see that you can do both very well.''
But Lindsay has yet another job: behind-the-scenes power broker and deal maker. He was instrumental in accumulating property for Tidewater Community College off Granby Street in downtown Norfolk. His company also quietly brokered the land deal for the planned mall in Newport News.
Born in Norfolk in 1929 to a family of volunteers, Lindsay learned early how to weave himself into the community's social fabric. Of course it helped that he came with family ties: his uncle, Colgate Darden, was a former Virginia governor, and another uncle, Pretlow Darden, was a former Norfolk mayor.
But he volunteers so much - in everything from clubs to civic groups - that some colleagues have dubbed him the ``Man Who Can't Say No.''
Lindsay helped form the Urban League of Hampton Roads and has raised money for the Southside Boys & Girls Club. In 1994, he helped ease a zoning fight over Calvary Revival Church in Norfolk.
In the 1950s, when many local leaders and residents resisted integration attempts, Lindsay refused to go along. He spoke out against Massive Resistance.
For his roles in the community, Lindsay has been honored so many times that he has probably lost count. There is the Downtowner award, the Liberty Award, the First Citizen honor and more. Last month, he received the Hunter Hogan Commercial Real Estate Award.
However, his colleagues know that Lindsay doesn't like the center stage. He'd much rather do his thing and then leave the spotlight to someone else.
``Sometimes I think he avoids recognition,'' said Al Carmichael, vice president of Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate. ``I think he just wants to get the job done.''
But Lindsay couldn't always avoid the spotlight.
After returning from the Korean War, where he led a Marine platoon, Lindsay married and then followed his father into the real estate business.
His father, though willing to take big risks, was the type to do one project at a time. The younger Lindsay, however, was eager to move faster. He wanted to expand the development side of the business.
Those high-profile works would give Lindsay some of his greatest successes and one of the most dismal times in his life. In the 1960s, he and his father pieced together about 30 properties to develop what is now Military Circle mall. Then, Lindsay joined with developer James W. Rouse to build downtown Norfolk's Waterside marketplace in 1982.
But it was Dominion Tower that pushed him over the edge.
In the late '80s, the 26-story building off Waterside Drive was half-empty and a near financial disaster. Some in the real estate industry joked that the tower, the single largest office building in Hampton Roads, looked like a tombstone. They thought it would never work out.
Although, Lindsay was a general partner in the company that built Dominion Tower, he did not have a large financial stake in the project. However, he felt he had a personal stake. He was born in Norfolk, helped develop Norfolk and would make Dominion Tower work.
He stayed. Today, Dominion Tower is more than 90 percent occupied.
``There were headaches - a lot of them,'' Lindsay says now.
Publicly, Lindsay never complained about his anxiety over Dominion Tower. During that time, the most his co-workers and colleagues in the real estate industry saw was a small, worried frown on his face. Few sensed his anguish. He would not let them see it.
``He's a really private person,'' said Gerald Divaris, president of Divaris Real Estate Inc. in Virginia Beach. ``If he was very disappointed, he didn't show it. It was not something that was visible.''
Few in the real estate industry can recall a time when Lindsay's voice has steeled in anger. In good times, he is modest and genteel. In bad times, he is the same.
After more than 40 years in the real estate business, Lindsay says he plans to slow down a bit in the next several years. But his colleagues smile. They know Lindsay.
``He's been saying that for 10 years,'' a co-worker said, laughing. ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
REAL DEAL
LAWRENCE JACKSON
The Virginian-Pilot
Harvey Lindsay Jr. has helped shape Norfolk's skyline
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN / The Virginian-Pilot file
When Dominion Tower, right, stood half-empty, Lindsay Jr. felt he
had a personal stake in sticking with the project.
Map
ROBERT D. VOROS
The Virginian-Pilot
SOURCE: Group III Communications
KEYWORDS: PROFILE by CNB