Christmas Colts Fan From Cambridge

Have you noticed the huge Colts horseshoe beaming across the water as you cross the Fall Creek bridge? It is a great show of support for our Colts and blends right in with all of the festive holiday decorations this year!
The man behind the blue and white display is your fun loving, outgoing neighbor and Cambridge resident, Steve Shea. He is also the man behind a lot of retail development in more than a dozen cities nationwide as well, as in our own backyard.
More on that coming up, but first, the Colts sign.
It all started last year when Shea mistakenly purchased blue holiday lights instead of the clear lights. “I didn’t have my glasses on!” he laughs. But instead of returning them, he decided to use the lights for a big blue Colts display right in his own backyard. Of course, he did this to show his support for his team, but also for his relatives to enjoy: the Steelers fans from Pittsburgh who were driving over to watch the Colts/Steelers game! It took just a couple of hours in the garage to cut a horseshoe from a piece of plywood. He then covered it with lights, set up the blue lights at the base of the horseshoe and plugged it all in. The Colts display was on!
Although Shea nearly ruined the dining room table by finishing his horseshoe in the house on the way to the backyard, Steve Shea and his wife Janice are actually no strangers to construction. Janice grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her father is a developer, and she went on to earn a degree in architectural engineering from Penn State. When Steve Shea went to Pittsburgh in the early 80s with the Simons to build a shopping mall, guess who was the Project Manager? Janice!
They survived the construction of the shopping mall, and Steve and Janice married in 1988. Today they have three children: Jessica, 16; David, 14; and Alana, 7.
One of their first success stories was securing Barnes and Noble bookstores as a core tenant in more than 16 cities, including Bloomington, South Bend and Detroit.
A more recent project close to home is the “Gateway Crossing” development at 75th and Pendleton. It is their first residential development. Steve says when it came to naming the streets, he thought back to his childhood. “I named the streets after the streets in my neighborhood growing up in Portsmouth, England!” says Shea, who was 12 when he moved to Indiana. He says they’re looking into developing student housing in urban areas next.
So the next time you cross the bridge between the Marina and the Yacht Club and see the glowing horseshoe across the water, you’ll know the story behind the Colts display.
For anyone who doesn’t know the Sheas (is there anyone is Geist who doesn’t know the Sheas?), they deal with millions of dollars in construction projects each year. But what are they answering questions about these days? The simple construction of a Colts horseshoe, covered in leftover holiday lights, propped up in the backyard and left up for all to enjoy!
Happy Holidays, and from the Sheas…. Go Colts!