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Bio
Arthur (Art) Fuccillo is the Executive Vice President of Development for Lerner Enterprises, perhaps the most valuable private real estate company in the Washington, DC region. Art has been with Lerner Enterprises since 1981 and began his career there as General Counsel. He expanded his role to lead development efforts for all retail properties and subsequently coordinated construction of Nationals Park and the West Palm Beach, Florida Spring Training facility for the Washington Nationals Baseball Team.
Show Notes
Origins & Family
- Grew up in Patchogue, Long Island, NY (6:45)
- Italian immigrant family
- Grandparents lived next door (7:10)
- Grandfather moved from Italy in 1909 and met his Grandmother and married when he was 28 and she was 18 yrs. old (8:00)
- Married in the depression
- Grandmother asked a neighbor about a 275 gallon gas tank in his yard and bought it and added it to a truck (9:15)
- She was a “go getter” and recruited her daughter and her husband built a “fuel oil” business (10:00)
- Fuccillo Oil built up over 80 years when it was sold (10:30)
- She was a “go getter” and recruited her daughter and her husband built a “fuel oil” business (10:00)
- He grew up working in the family business working fuel oil business (11:00)
- During the summer he harvested clams during high school and college (11:45)
- Hard working and hands on enterprise growing up gave him the work ethic he used the rest of his live (12:30)
- “Learned to think like an owner” (13:00)
- Explained the process of delivering fuel and his customer relationships (13:30)
- Everyone in the Fuccillo family was an entrepreneur, except him…he learned that you should consider working almost around the clock and “hands on” (14:45)
- Work 24/7
- Reference to Titan by Ron Chernow about John D. Rockefeller (16:00)
- Story about his Father attempting to keep their company going in the “oil crisis” in 1973. (16:30)
- Ladder into a large old storage tank to clean it out…shoveling dust and dirt out of these tanks (17:15)
- “Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty” (18:20)
- He was an athlete, yet his parents didn’t recognize it, since their focus was their business (19:30)
- Never called anyone to fix anything…always you had to learn how to fix what needed to be fixed…he is very “hands on” (20:30)
- Story about his Father’s letters that he wrote at 18 years old when he worked on a ship in the Merchant Marines reading them to him now at 96 yrs. old (23:45)
- Mother’s family was in the oil business, as well. Book smarts came from his Mother. (25:00)
- Story about his wife’s father in the wedding of his Mother’s cousin (27:15)
- Every Sunday at 1pm was a family dinner where he grew up…down time was Sunday afternoon (27:50)
Education
- Seton Hall HS in Suffolk County, NY (28:50)
- Attended Villanova University (30:30)
- Political Science major
- Knew he wanted to be an attorney since he was 9 yrs. old (31:00)
- Thought he might wanted to be in politics…Kennedy family influenced him (31:30)
- Worked and studied with law school in mind (32:00)
- Attended Catholic University for law school (34:00)
- Lived with Villanova alumni friends in Arlington, VA (34:15)
- Went to Georgetown to get a Masters in Tax Law (35:00)
- Valued education
- In your 20s get as much education and as many relationships as possible (36:00)
- Loved Virginia and DC area while in law school (36:45)
- Met his wife in 1980 while in law school (37:45)
- Knew he wanted to be in real estate (38:50)
Short Legal Career
- First job in Tysons Corner in 1975 with a law firm (39:00)
- He looked out the window at Tysons Corner Shopping Center and wondered how it was built (40:00)
- His Father was a real estate investor (40:20)
- Chance to do construction litigation (Walstad, Wickwire, Peterson, Gavin and Asselin) (43:00)
- John Wickwire was brilliant
- Kennedy Foundation building and Cedar Sinai Hospital cases (43:45)
- Only wanted to learn, but didn’t like the practice of law (45:15)
- His Father was in the real estate business as well as the oil business
- Loved tax and property law, but didn’t like criminal law
Introduction to Real Estate- Sidney Brown
- Answered an ad in the paper with Sidney Brown, the owner of Beltway Plaza (46:10)
- “What do you know about hard work?” he was asked (47:00)
- He worked there for 14 months and learned about litigation and how to use a “pencil” in understanding economics of real estate (47:30)
- He gives Sidney Brown credit for teaching him the ability to take on things to challenge others (48:30)
- He “created law” in Maryland for retail (50:00)
- While working there he saw an ad in the paper about an opportunity with Lerner Enterprises (50:30)
Career at Lerner Enterprises- Legal, Retail & Stadiums
- Sends resume into Lerner in Wheaton for Bill Scott, General Counsel (50:45)
- Asked him if he wanted to meet Ted Lerner and was told that he wanted him to join them (51:30)
- Story about “what did he want to make?” (52:30)
- Lerner in 1981 had four regional malls, 3,000 apartments, no office buildings or other properties (53:00)
- Ted Lerner- Leader
- Evan Novenstein– Development
- Bill Scott- Leasing
- Art- General Counsel
- Management for retail and accounting (55:00)
- Washington Square– 1050 Connecticut Ave. (56:30)
- Bidding against Mort Zuckerman for US News Building on the West End. (57:15)
- Ted Lerner sold houses at the beginning of his career (58:00)
- Met Isadore Gudelsky (Homer Gudelsky, his brother) in the 1950s- Percontee Sand and Gravel (59:30)
- Ted developed Wheaton Mall and secured the department stores (1:00:30)
- Ted then went to Tysons Corner and negotiated a ground lease for the regional mall there. (1:01:30)
- Ted went ahead and negotiated the department stores and developed the mall (1:04:00)
- Sonny Abramson approached Ted Lerner to develop both Landover Mall and White Flint Mall (1:05:50)
- Sold Wheaton Mall and interest in Tysons Corner S/C in 1985 (1:06:45)
- Developed Tysons II with Homart (1:07:00)
- Story about Nordstrom’s (1:07:15)
- Coin flip with Homart to take the land surrounding the mall (1:09:30)
- Jerry O’Connell brought in a Bill Bryant map of Loudoun County (1:10:45)
- Loudoun County land rush in the mid 1980s (1:11:30)
- Story about Jack Andrews drawing roads in Loudoun County (1:12:00)
- Beaumeade site and Intergate– center of internet (1:13:15)
- Dulles 28 Centre (1:14:00)
- Round Hill (1:14:15)
- Entitlement process in Loudoun County (1:14:30)
- Application for rezoning Dulles Town Center in 1986 (1:15:15)
- His first big step in the development side beyond being General Counsel (1:16:00)
- Art was front man for Ted Lerner on interfacing with government and public hearings (1:16:30)
- Land banking (1:17:30)
- Much easier process in the 1980s and 1990s (1:19:00)
- Process considerably harder now as more people allocated to the process (1:19:00)
- Application for rezoning Dulles Town Center in 1986 (1:15:15)
- Art reads all the leases and documents before Principals (1:20:00)
- 1990 came and the Lerners and the Abramsons held on to their assets during the financial crises (1:20:30)
- Colony Capital and they acquired properties from the RTC (1:21:20)
- Pete Henry of Trammell Crow Retail- Introduced to Mobil Oil (Greg Hamm) the site for Northpoint Village Center (1:21:30)
- Spectrum at Reston Town Center (1:22:45)
- Site in Gainesville they decided not to develop (1:24:30)
- Builders at Northpoint and Spectrum were Harvey Cleary and L.F. Jennings (1:27:00)
- Strip center business was a business that complemented their regional mall business (1:28:30)
- Thomas Farm became Fallsgrove– Bob Yougentob assembled JPI, Lerner, and Pulte Homes to acquire the land (1:30:00)
- Fallsgrove Center placed on Shady Grove Road (1:32:00)
- Safeway & Krispy Kreme
- Built out now except for multifamily site (1:34:45)
- Dulles 28 Center (1:35:00)
- Annapolis Harbour Center (1:36:00)
- Office buildings and multifamily projects were the responsibility of Mark Lerner (1:37:30)
- His purview was retail and zoning (1:38:00)
- Regional Mall business (1:38:45)
- Regional mall business was hit hard by the internet (1:39:30)
- Everyone began selling everything (1:39:45)
- Industry “rocks” fell apart- Garfinkels, I. Magnin, Sears, Lord & Taylor, Woodward & Lothrop (1:40:45)
- Witness to the deterioration of the regional mall business (1:42:00)
- Quality of cash flow deteriorated over time (1:42:45)
- Some malls will survive- Tysons Corner Center and Tysons Galleria (1:43:00)
- Ted Lerner realized in the early 2000s that the regional mall business would not work (1:43:45)
- White Flint redevelopment necessary (1:44:45)
- Department stores relocated or closed
- Business is over (1:47:15)
- Admires the process of mixed use development- Pike & Rose project by Federal Realty (1:50:30)
- Changing the course of history (1:51:15)
- Office market (1:52:15)
- COVID experiment- staying home- How did society change? (1:52:40)
- Things are crazy! (1:53:15)
- Will things become more “normal”- people want to work together (1:53:45)
- Legal profession changed (1:54:00)
- Flight to quality for office space- pay for quality space and amenities (1:55:00)
- Major League Baseball acquired the Montreal Expos in 2005 and Lerner bid on the franchise (1:56:15)
- Lerner family spent the time to acquire the team (1:57:00)
- Selection process chose the Lerners due to stability (1:57:15)
- Baseball is a hard business (1:57:45)
- 2006 they started the team and Nationals Park in 2008 (1:58:15)
- Involved in Nationals Park development/construction (1:59:30)
- Lerner invested $50+ Million in the stadium (2:00:45)
- Central Florida Spring Training facility in Kissimmee, FL lease expired and the community did not want a new redeveloped stadium (2:01:15)
- West Palm Beach, FL approached the Nationals about relocating there (2:02:30)
- Art stepped up to find the site in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County (2:03:00)
- He took the project through all the aspects of development- Build, Negotiate agreements and finance the project (2:03:15)
- He spent four years through the project together with the Houston Astros who shared the stadium with the Nationals (2:04:00)
- $156MM project (2:05:30)
Ted Lerner Legacy
- Legacy of Lerner Enterprises (Link to Eulogy of Ted Lerner)
- 200 year plan (2:07:00)
- Next generation of Lerner Enterprises now involved (2:07:15)
- Three or four “Billion dollar projects” to do (2:08:00)
- Family gets along well (2:08:15)
- Ted Lerner was fundamentally humble (2:08:30)
- Drove his own car
- Abhorred pretentiousness
- Lived in the same home he built in the 1960s
- Where’s the next thing? (2:09:45)
- Cherished the moments when Ted came into his office
- Gave him the opportunity to be creative for the good of the company (2:11:00)
- Significant latitude yet he needed approval on large decisions (2:11:45)
- Board decisions (2:12:45)
- Gave him the opportunity to work on two stadiums, a regional mall, six strip centers (2:13:30)
- Admired Ted for giving him the opportunities (2:15:45)
- Large parcels need patience (2:16:20)
- Data center sale in Gainesville, VA (2:16:45)
- Keep looking at opportunities over the horizon (2:17:15)
- Don’t rush
- Company Board (2:19:00)
- Family
- COO, CFO, IT department
- Setup to run efficiently (2:19:30)
Personal Perspectives and Advice
- Hiring (2:20:30)
- Intellectual ability without a lot of guidance (2:20:40)
- Look at past history and experience (2:21:00)
- Enthusiasm (2:21:15)
- Inspirations
- Pete Henry– retail development (2:22:00)
- Mel Lenkin– Lenkin Companies (2:22:30)
- Ray Ritchey– Focused and has a big heart (2:22:40)
- Intergate guys- Jack Andrews, Jerry O’Connell, Steve Hubert (2:23:00)
- Bob Buchanan (2:23:00)
- Stan Sloter (2:23:15)
- Jeff Dierman– Good friend and mentor (2:24:50)
- Walt Petrie– Creative guy (2:27:00)
- Sidney Brown- Initial influence (2:27:30)
- Life priorties
- Work to live (2:28:15)
- Do his hobby as a career (2:28:30)
- Family is first priority (2:28:50)
- Wife of 40 years
- Four children went to greats colleges and are gainfully employed (2:29:30)
- First son is with a tech company in Boston
- Second son, Joe, is with Iron Point Partners (2:30:00)
- Elder daughter, Angela, is with Arent Fox (2:30:30)
- Younger daughter, Maria was a great tennis player (2:30:45)
- Giving back (2:31:30)
- Washington Nationals Foundation
- Support Catholic University Law School (2:32:00)
- Support parochial schools
- Mentors students and young professionals (2:32:30)
- Wins
- Family (2:33:30)
- Sitting at the foot of Ted Lerner (2:33:40)
- Got a thrill every time he came in to speak with him
- Opportunities to develop shopping centers and other properties (2:34:45)
- Parents
- Losses
- Not winning opportunities (2:35:45)
- Surprise
- How much fun he is having in doing business… (2:35:50)
- Advice to 25 yr. old self
- Nothing is done in a straight line (2:37:45)
- In the end if you stay focused you’ll be okay
- Told his children that he made three mistakes today at work (2:37:30)
- Humility- What kind of person are you? (2:38:15)
- Money is “nothing”- It’s a lubricant only (2:38:50)
- Proud of his children’s observations about life (2:39:15)
- Billboard statement
- Take a deep breath, look around, count your blessings, and smile. Life’s short! (2:42:00)
Postscript
- Rameez Munawar Takeaways
- Be Patient
- Lifelong learning- diversification away from regional mall earlier than most
- Understanding importance of diversifying career from legal to development
- Cites experience at Jamestown, where he works
- Hands On experience in Art’s youth
- Comparison of Lerner to Federal Realty
- Discussed his personal inspiration to real estate
- Cited the early planning of Loudoun County and how things have changed
- Loudoun County growth story
- Aspects of today’s industry will change the real estate business
- Stay alert and be patient
