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Robert E. Simon Jr., real estate visionary and creator of Reston, dies at 101
Robert E. Simon Jr., real estate visionary and creator of Reston, dies at 101Business
By Bob Levey September 21 at 9:32 PM
Robert E. Simon Jr., a real estate entrepreneur described as a visionary when he carved the planned community of Reston out of the Northern Virginia countryside in the 1960s, only to be forced out when tensions arose over financing and slow sales, died Sept. 21 at his home in Reston. He was 101.
....
Reston was a departure from most of Mr. Simon’s ventures, which included shopping centers and other commercial projects. But after selling Carnegie Hall to New York City in 1960 for $5 million, he said he needed to invest his profits quickly before being hit with a massive capital gains tax.
He was intrigued when a real estate broker told him of a parcel of land that had just become available: 6,750 acres of wooded fox-hunting territory 18 miles west of Washington. ... The broker told Mr. Simon that three huge pluses were nearby: a superhighway called the Capital Beltway; a world-class airport, Dulles International; and a high-speed access road that linked the Beltway and the airport.
Mr. Simon soon learned that none of those amenities existed yet. Undeterred, he saw the chance to create a community that was the antithesis of uninspired and, in many cases, racially and economically segregated postwar suburbs.
Robert E. Simon Jr., a real estate entrepreneur described as a visionary when he carved the planned community of Reston out of the Northern Virginia countryside in the 1960s, only to be forced out when tensions arose over financing and slow sales, died Sept. 21 at his home in Reston. He was 101.
....
Reston was a departure from most of Mr. Simon’s ventures, which included shopping centers and other commercial projects. But after selling Carnegie Hall to New York City in 1960 for $5 million, he said he needed to invest his profits quickly before being hit with a massive capital gains tax.
He was intrigued when a real estate broker told him of a parcel of land that had just become available: 6,750 acres of wooded fox-hunting territory 18 miles west of Washington. ... The broker told Mr. Simon that three huge pluses were nearby: a superhighway called the Capital Beltway; a world-class airport, Dulles International; and a high-speed access road that linked the Beltway and the airport.
Mr. Simon soon learned that none of those amenities existed yet. Undeterred, he saw the chance to create a community that was the antithesis of uninspired and, in many cases, racially and economically segregated postwar suburbs.