Fuller Hired To
Seek Minorities In
Ports. Development

Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter
New Journal & Guide
  
       Lincoln Property Company, the firm which won the bid to redevelop Portsmouth's downtown waterfront, has hired a Norfolk African American businessman to help the company recruit minority investors in the $200 million project.

William Fuller (top center) with children at ground breaking for Berkeley Shopping Center.

      William Fuller, a former NFL football star with the Cleveland Browns, told the New Journal and Guide last Friday (Oct. 5) that he has been hired as a consultant by Lincoln to recruit a group of minority investors.
      Lincoln’s original Request for Proposal (RFP)  did not identify any minority investors although its proposal was selected over  two other competitors which did include minority partners. One of those competitors, Roseland Property, had four prominent African American investors from Portsmouth.
     

    The selection of Lincoln without any minority participation has created a controversy and criticism of city council by the city's NAACP, as well as concerned citizens.
Fuller, who has  been running Fulco Development since 2001, was one of the top investors in a shopping center complex in the Berkley section of Norfolk.
       His company's most prominent  endeavor is on the development team  of a $47 million hotel in downtown Norfolk. The hotel is part of a larger $125 million project which will include a convention center complex.
        Fuller says he has a residential subdivision development in Norfolk and  a  project in Isle of Wight and other parts of Hampton Roads. He has built a reputation as the most visible  African American developer in Hampton Roads.
        Fuller said that  once Lincoln has signed the initial agreement with the city to begin the “Holiday Inn” waterfront project,  the first phase of the development will be worth $50 million.
       He said that the minority stake would be from 10 to 20 percent.  Mr. Fuller says he is seeking minorities who could become suitable “equity and service” participants  in the project headed by Lincoln.
       “Right now, I am just starting up the process to find some viable investors for this project to participate,” said Mr. Fuller.
"We are in the predevelopment phase of a very complicated process.  I am seeking to recruit minority investors who are interested in getting involved in a very important venture.”
       The head of Portsmouth’s development department told the New Journal and Guide that an agreement between the city and Lincoln Property Company should be finalized by mid-November. Fuller said he hopes to have the minority equity and service group in place by then.

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