Fusco, Edmund, 2007 February 28

Edmund Fusco was a real estate developer who became involved in the Church Street mall project in the early 1960s. Mayor Dick Lee and redevelopment leader Edward Logue initially approached a New York developer named Roger Stevens. Stevens worked on the project for a few years, before selling his interest to Fusco. Fusco discusses the reason for the failure of the project, concluding that a shopping center in an urban area made very little sense in an era of suburbanization and sprawl. Suburbanites, he says, had no interest in coming downtown to shop, and Fusco regrets that he didn't see this at the time. In addition, Fusco discusses the possibilities of a public/private partnership. Can both the city and the developer benefit from a redevelopment project? Must one win out to the disadvantage of the other? Fusco concludes that, in theory, such a partnership can work, but individual personalities make it difficult in practice.

Interviewer: Lewis, Dain