One of the first faces you’ll see at The Hub CoWorks every morning is Chris Fucci, President of CFA (Chris Fucci Associates), a well-known and long-established real estate and business consulting firm based here in Rutland. Dressed business casual and armed with a to-go cup from Dunkin Donuts, Chris always has a smile and pleasant word to offer to members of The Hub community, whether it be the staff, Hotdesk visitors, or other permanent office colleagues from several area businesses.
Chris has been a real estate broker and business consultant since 1974 and likes to think he was “born into it.” He fondly recalls his own family history, having Italian grandparents on both sides of his family coming to Rutland as immigrants with a grandfather using his skills as a stonecutter and his grandmother assembling the capital necessary to acquire real estate by being a buyer for the Fashion Shoppe here in Rutland. Chris has a great deal of admiration for his grandmother as she was “way ahead of her time” because women typically did not have the opportunity to work outside the home. This “blessed” life he has enjoyed is tied directly to the lessons he learned from his family and has helped Chris maintain his connection and passion for Rutland.
While his professional trajectory started here, his journey wasn’t always within the confines of our city. He spoke fondly of his time in Manchester, New Hampshire when he was attending Boston College. While there and during his senior year, he worked as a driver for the owner of a real estate development company who offered him some words of advice about his possible career as an attorney. That advice was “Chris, you don’t want to be the guy getting the checks, you want to be the guy writing the checks.” This suggestion from an owner of a company doing subsidized housing made an impact on him, and it served as the foundation for much of the work he did early in his career and has been doing over the course of his career. His business pivoted to developing hotel and condominium projects in several states during the boom of the 1980’s and 1990’s when federal government support for subsidized housing started to dry up. Chris and his partners were also significantly involved in providing management advice to existing or proposed businesses through the consulting arm of CFA. His philosophy for building a successful company or leading an important product is simple: lead by having a flat management style because it is effective, efficient, and sustainable. This collaborative style stresses the importance of transparency that demonstrates that “on the ground” that everyone works together as a team with no perceived hierarchy. This was evident in his successful partnership with on several projects he did with the late Ernie Smalley of Smalley Construction through their collaboration at Steel Square. Both companies had their offices their until the building was sold to the Veterans Administration. Chris made the decision to relocate to The Hub when he learned about the project MKF Properties was developing here which included co-working and fixed office space.
So, things have come full circle for chris since he arrived here as he is currently working on a few projects that also involve subsidized housing in our area. We are happy to have Chris and CFA as part of our family and look forward to many more years of having his reputation and expertise available to businesses here in the Rutland Region.