cover story | lewis group

FAMILY & EMPIRE
THE LEWIS GROUP OF COMPANIES IS A FAMILY STORY — TODAY AND TOMORROW

Stories By WILL BIGHAM

THE FOUR BROTHERS AND THE NEXT GENERATION

IN ALL FAMILIES, there comes a time when the torch is passed from one generation to the next.

For the Lewis family, that transition includes managing mammoth holdings valued at more than $1.5 billion.

Less than 10 years ago, the company sold its home-building operation and successfully transitioned its focus to building master-planned communities, retail centers and apartments.

As the generation of four brothers who currently head the company — Richard, Randall, Robert and Roger Lewis — move toward the sunsets of their careers, another transition is fast approaching.

Two of Richard's children, David Richard Lewis and Jennifer Lewis, are among the next generation of Lewises who, along with other non-family executives, are expected to one day take the reigns of the storied family-owned developer, the Lewis Group of Companies.

Both grandchildren of founders Ralph and Goldy Lewis already play prominent roles in the company, and their younger cousins — many of them are in college or high school — are being reared in the family business as well.

"Because it's a family business, the values they have and the way that they think are instilled in us, the way my grandparents, sitting in this very office, instilled those values in their children," said David Richard Lewis, Richard Lewis' son.

"So I don't see that the company will change a lot in the way it operates, the way it does business, the way we treat people," he added.

When Ralph and Goldy Lewis started their home-building business in the 1950s, they established a family-oriented strategy to developing their business that proved to be a winning approach.

about the company at the dinner table, through weekend trips to properties and through countless childhood hours spent at the company headquarters.

As the sons entered the company following college, the nurturing approach their parents took during their childhoods extended in establishing their roles in the company.

Each brother settled into a job suited to his interests and personality.

"What's been good is we've always communicated well as a family, and we have a mutual respect for each other," said Robert Lewis, who runs the company's efforts in Nevada. "It's not like we're constantly criticizing each other. I think we're constantly trying to help one another." Richard, the oldest son, calls himself "aggressive, opportunistic, a big thinker." As company president, he focuses on land acquisition, conceiving projects andRandall, at 56 the youngest brother, focuses primarily on the company's marketing.

Randall speaks with passion about the company's efforts to encourage education, healthy living and environmental causes in the communities where Lewis builds — things that he calls the "social infrastructure" of a community.

"Each member of the family has been able to evolve into a job that he or she likes a lot," Randall said. "I love what I do. I go to work happy every day." Robert, who relocated to Nevada in the 1970s, says his primary interests lie in numbers and accounting.

The fourth son in the company, Roger Lewis, has taken an interest in construction and product design.

The ability of the family members to settle into roles that suit their interests has extended to the next generation.

David Richard Lewis, 33, has the same focus as his father. He spends a lot of his time pursuing new development opportunities for the company, both in the Inland Empire and in Las Vegas. He splits his time between the two areas.

He says he is "truly following in his (father's) footsteps." "I'm still working diligently to expand into my father's role, so when the time is right, he can retire," David said.

Jennifer Lewis, Richard's daughter, is based in the company's Las Vegas office. She focuses on the political and policy aspects of the company's work.

"I think we each have a niche," she said. "My brother likes to go out and find the new projects, whereas some of us are more focused on how to make the best project possible." It's uncertain at this point how many of David and Jennifer's cousins will enter the company.

David says most of his cousins are in college or high school. But he imagines they probably have had the same childhood experiences he had — when he was immersed in the company from an early age.

"When I was growing up, every weekend we would come to this office with my dad — literally in this office where we're sitting," David said.

"This was my grandfather's office. And if you wanted to visit my grandparents, you visited them at the office, because that's where they were all the time, especially on the weekends." Randall's children, he says, often accompany their father on his regular weekend trips to look at properties and new projects.

"Probably half the time they're with him," David said.

"So whether they wanted to be or not, they are intimate with the Inland Empire, and they absolutely have seen it."

STRATEGY, DEVELOPMENT AND THE LAND BANK

WHEN ASKED whether development opportunities in the Inland Empire may someday taper off, the usually stone-faced Richard Lewis forms a wide grin.

"It's hard to picture running out of land," said Lewis, president of the Lewis Group of Companies.

In this time of economic uncertainty, the Lewises show no signs of hesitating. More apartments, more shopping centers and more master-planned communities are in the works across the company's operating area — from Chino to Reno.

The diversity of the company's geographic area, as well as the diversity of its functions, help to insulate it from typical market pressures, Randall Lewis said.

"One of the things my dad believed in was diversity in what the company does, as a form of insurance almost," he said.

"It was a way to grow, but also to hedge. It's also why we got into shopping centers and apartments." Since the family built its first housing tract in the 1950s, Lewis projects have covered an area in excess of 24,000 acres, with more than 56,000 homes, 10,000 apartments, and 12 million square feet of office, retail and industrial space.

Looking to the future, the Lewis' undeveloped land holdings — for housing, retail and apartment projects — total more than 23,000 acres.

More than 7,000 housing units will be built in its master-planned community in south Chino called The Preserve.

The company is planning several thousand housing units in the underdeveloped farming area of south Ontario that will become the New Model Colony and eventually include more than 30,000 homes.

Thousands of other housing units are planned in areas of north Fontana, Rialto, Eastvale, Rancho Cucamonga, the High Desert and elsewhere in the Inland Empire.

One project alone — in an area of unincorporated Riverside County called Lakeview — will have 11,000 housing units, plus schools and other amenities.

Randall Lewis, an executive vice president, said he expects the Lakeview area to incorporate as a city — a city that would be master-planned in large measure by the Lewis Company.

Similar projects are planned in the Sacramento area, and in Nevada.

"We have a lot of parcels throughout Northern and Southern California and Nevada," said Jennifer Lewis.

"Either we're in the process of master-planning, and there's some other pieces we're just holding until the market turns around." Since selling its home-building business in 1999, the Lewis Company has shifted its focus in a big way.

Apartment complexes such as the company's new upscale "Homecoming" projects are being pursued in new areas.

And retail developments, such as the company's role in building Victoria Gardens, will continue to be a priority. An expansion including more shopping, housing, and possibly a new hotel at Victoria Gardens, is in the works.

"Hopefully we'll still be thriving, hopefully we'll have a lot of good projects we're working on, and we'll still be part of the community," Jennifer said.