He hired the painters to complement him, he never stopped painting altogether. I’ve seen the same pattern work. Make star IC a TL, pair them with good product and manager, add many engineers who can take care of all the simpler work and let the star do the main work. For orgs which can’t or won’t hire “A people”, this is the only workable solution I think.
"The Mythical Man-Month" seems relevant in any case.