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Harvey Lindsay Jr., the developer of Military Circle mall, the original iteration of Waterside and several other properties that defined the landscape of Hampton Roads, died Wednesday at the age of 93.
As the former president and chairman of his family company, Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate, Lindsay transitioned the firm from residential home sales to commercial properties, changing the face of cities like Norfolk, Newport News and Williamsburg, among others, in the process.
Dawna Ellis, the firm’s chief financial officer, started working for Lindsay 38 years ago when he hired her at the age of 24.
“The one thing that I can say about him is that if you have the opportunity to work with Harvey Lindsay for that long and you do not come away a different person, you’re not paying attention,” Ellis said.
Lindsay led his life by example, Ellis said, leading the company with qualities like honesty, integrity, compassion and generosity.
“Harvey was an eternal optimist and a true servant leader who believed in empowering individuals to take care of their neighbors,” Robert King, one of Lindsay’s sons and current Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate president, said in an announcement. “Throughout his career, my dad believed that what was good for people was good for business.
Grandson and company vice president Bobby Beasley III said in the announcement Lindsay treated others with kindness and understanding, often working behind the scenes to better the lives of other people.
Before joining his father’s firm in 1954, Lindsay graduated from the University of Virginia and served in Korea as an infantry platoon leader for the Marine Corps.
At the firm, Lindsay began working on developing areas like Little Creek and Military Circle. At the age of 29, he was named Realtor of the Year by the Norfolk Real Estate Board.
To close the deal on Military Circle, which opened in 1970, he told the Pilot he had to convince 37 landowners to sell their parcels for the project.
“It was very complicated process and very challenging to get all the owners to agree on the idea of the mall,” Lindsay said. “Things in the commercial real estate business sometimes move slowly and the property owners were impatient and wanted things to move more quickly.”
That ability to bring people together was a key attribute of Lindsay’s success inside and outside the office, Ellis said.
“So, what he would do is he would bring his own expertise to the table, but then he would also bring in people that he felt could contribute to the process,” she said.
Lindsay’s firm developed properties that would establish the skylines of Hampton Roads cities, like Dominion Tower in Norfolk or City Center at Oyster Point in Newport News. Others, like the Tidewater Community College campus in Norfolk, were instrumental in the revitalization of communities, said former Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim. Fraim said Lindsay used his business acumen, along with his philanthropic and civic efforts, to help communities in need.
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“It’s the end of an era,” Fraim said.
Other real estate developments Lindsay worked on include: Norfolk’s Waterside Festival, later redeveloped into Waterside District; the Village Shops at Kingsmill near Williamsburg; Arrowhead Plaza Shopping Center in Virginia Beach; and the Duke Grace Building in Norfolk’s Neon District.
During his time in Korea, a chance conversation in a foxhole with a Black soldier started his lifelong advocacy for civil rights, according to the announcement. In the 1950s, he advocated for the reopening of schools closed by Massive Resistance, an effort by lawmakers at the time to block desegregation. He also helped organize and lead a temporary committee called the Urban Coalition, now the Urban League of Hampton Roads, and also served as that organization’s president.
“At a time when taking a bold stance on race relations in southern Virginia was risky, Mr. Lindsay stood for what was right, demonstrating uncommon courage,” Gilbert Bland, president and CEO of the Urban League of Hampton Roads, said in the announcement. “He continued to be an ally throughout his whole life in support of the Urban League and our mission as well as support of other like-minded organizations.”
Bland said Lindsay was also a personal friend, and added the region was a stronger, more inclusive community thanks to his actions.
Over the years, Lindsay served as president of the Norfolk Community Concert Association, director of naval base Little League, director of the Norfolk Chamber of Commerceand board member of the Access College Foundation. He was a fundraiser for Southside Boys & Girls Club, the United Way and Union Mission Ministries’ $30 million campus. As a longtime member of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Norfolk, he taught Sunday school, chaired Christian education and served as junior warden.
Trevor Metcalfe, 757-222-5345, trevor.metcalfe@pilotonline.com