HERE’S SOME FREE ADVICE: IF YOU PLAN ON PRINTING OUT BOB STANTON’S BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS, MAKE SURE YOUR PRINTER HAS PLENTY OF INK AND PAPER.
After 50 years in Hampton Roads real estate, the man has constructed a skyscraper of a resume. Next month, Stanton will be celebrated at the Town Point Club for his half-century of professional accomplishments. But the chairman of Stanton Partners isn’t ready to hang up his suit and tie quite yet.
“I don’t have any plans to get out – I’m having too much fun,” Stanton said. “Besides, I don’t know what my wife would do if I was sitting around the house all day.”
After graduating from Old Dominion University in 1961, Stanton joined Goodman Segar Hogan Inc. as a broker in 1966. He quickly evolved into a developer, manager and leader for the company. In 1975, he took over as its president. Today, he heads Stanton Partners Inc. and specializes in commercial real estate investments.
Over the past five decades, Stanton has been involved with a host of high-profile projects, including Lynnhaven Mall, Greenbrier Mall, Norfolk’s World Trade Center and the site of his current office, 150 West Main St.
In addition to changing the physical landscape of the region, Stanton has been a ubiquitous fundraiser, board member and public supporter of various charities, nonprofits and academic organizations, including ODU, the ACCESS College Foundation and the Virginia Beach Jaycees.
When he isn’t working out or working in downtown Norfolk, Stanton enjoys golfing and competing in offshore fishing tournaments. He lives with his wife, Eleanor, in Virginia Beach.
The Lynnhaven Mall Hail Mary
“That was a very controversial project. In the playbook, it was kind of like throwing the bomb, going way out on Lynnhaven Parkway. At that time, it was completely desolate, from the expressway to Holland Road was empty. There wasn’t a building in that stretch, just thousands of acres of corn.
“Montgomery Ward directed us to that site, and they said, ‘This is where we need to be. We’re ready to go, and we’re ready to go now, and this is the site we want to be on.’
“I said, ‘Well, how in the world are we going to get the traffic there? You’ve only got a two-lane road.’ And Mel Simon, who was a developer, said, ‘We’re going to build another two-lane road next to the existing two-lane road.’ That was my first experience in watching something like that happen, where the development of a big retail complex drives other things. Office buildings, industrial buildings, and all kinds of other buildings started getting built around it. You drive down Lynnhaven Parkway today, and it’s wall-to-wall buildings.”
Winning by one
“It was a controversial zoning decision, it failed at the Virginia Beach planning commission by an 11-0 vote. And then it passed City Council with 6-5, a pretty tight vote. If not for one vote, the mall wouldn’t be there today.
“There were some owners of competing properties who were fighting to preserve their edge, and they had a lot of influence in Virginia Beach. There were some neighbors who didn’t want it. The Navy didn’t want it next to the Oceana Naval Air Station. I’ll never forget the commanding officer of NAS Oceana at that time was a guy who looked like Tom Cruise. He was there in his uniform, presenting the Navy’s side, and I come waddling up there to present our side. It didn’t seem fair because the guy was so handsome and so glib, and he had a good argument. But I did the best I could, and we got six votes, and that got it.”
Down but not out
“I bought [Goodman Segar Hogan Inc.] in 1986 and within months sold a big piece of it to Dominion Resources. Then we went into the real estate recession of the late ’80s. It was the worst I’ve ever seen it. 1990 was the bottom of my career. I’ve often said that the best moments of my life were in 1990, when times were the worst. People had me down for the count. I owed millions of dollars and had no way to repay it.
“I’ll never forget the first banker I went in to see, he was an old friend of mine. I had five banks that we owed money to, and after I told him what the situation was, he said, ‘Well, what can I do to help?’ Those were like words of magic. He pitched in and helped us think through a workout plan. We were able to convince the banks to give us some time to get on our feet again.
“We never went into Chapter 11, never even had a Chapter 11 discussion. Within two years, we came into a small fortune through corporate fate and paid every bank back three years early. Today, banks beg for us to borrow money from them. But had we not been so diligent in the ’90s in paying them back, our reputation would have been so damaged, we would have never been able to get back on our feet.
“That’s why I say the best time in my life was the worst time in my life.”
The perks of being a developer
“Of course, the money is pretty good. That’s a very big attraction. It’s a capitalistic system, and that’s why we do it, to make money. And I’ve got to say that any developer who doesn’t get a little rush out of building something and looking back at it and being a little proud, is kidding themselves. We all have enough ego to find some satisfaction there.
“Also, creating opportunities for people to go in business and have businesses of their own. I sat down here yesterday with a guy who has a novel restaurant idea. I listened to him make his pitch to me about being a tenant in one of our centers, and I’m thinking here’s a guy who is, in effect, starting out in life, and he’s going to gamble it all on the line to go in business. I’m certainly praying for his success. If he fails, then I have a vacant store. If he succeeds, I can go in his store and have lunch one day and feel good about it.”