Charlotte real-estate developer Henry Faison built Eastland Mall, Northlake Mall, and South Park, amassing a $1.5 billion portfolio across the eastern U.S. Colleagues remember him as stubborn and honest, walking job sites and pushing architects hard. He led the effort that brought the NFL to the Carolinas.
Henry Faison probably is the most caring individual in disguise that I think I've ever met in my life.
If he believed something today, he was going to believe it tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. So he never veered much from whatever course he was on. And he had good principles. good judgment about business. He knew, he knew what would work and what wouldn't.
Obviously the skyline in Charlotte, several prominent buildings bear his thumbprint, but not just Charlotte. He was a developer of true national caliber and reputation.
Henry Fason of Fason Enterprises, a Charlotte native son, not only added to the skyline but also developed Eastland and Northlake Malls and renovated South Park.
People will always think about Henry as a builder, not as a shopping center developer, which is what he was.
With properties valued in excess of $1.5 billion across the eastern United States, Faison was one of the most successful real estate developers in America and certainly one of the most colorful.
There's all of you that know Henry. He had an unusual personality, and it was pleasant to be around because You never knew what he was gonna say, and usually what he had to say was in conflict to what everyone else was saying, but he got by with it.
We were involved in a, in a campaign, a capital campaign, and he went out and he had made a call on an individual who had tremendous ability to give, and, and he sat there and he said, I am not leaving this room without the commitment that you're capable of making to this entity. And he ended up getting it. Now, the boss got a note saying that this person really had never been solicited in this fashion, but she was delighted to have been able to give.
Well, I don't think you ever got your way with Henry precisely. Don't think that. One of the things I did to Henry that I'm sure he remembers Or would remember, is that I told him I wanted him to build my headquarters for me in Tampa. That was the good news. The bad news was that Harry Wolfe was going to be the architect, and Harry was famous for being impossible to deal with as an architect, and he remained that way. And people said, you're crazy, he won't do that. But I paid him enough money that— He did.
We'd be going to South Carolina to go duck hunting or something, and inevitably pass a mall or a piece of land he was interested in. He'd pull over and he'd pace it off. He's always stopping. And do traffic counts to figure out how much traffic was in the mall. And it was just part of the deal.
The face and slogan built on reputation. In Charlotte, that reputation was built on vision and honesty.
At work, He had real simple rules, and if you stayed within the boundaries, it was great. I had a party one time, lied about it. Next thing I know, I was on the roof of Eastland Mall painting the air conditioning duct, which was about 400 yards square, with a paintbrush. And it was so hot my shoes melted. It took me 4 weeks to do that job. I never lied to him again.
Stand and cheer for the Panthers!
When I think of Henry, the important role he played when we were trying to bring the NFL to the Carolinas, and he was a tremendous support. We had to be aggressive in getting support, and of course aggressiveness is one of Henry's endearing qualities.
Henry chaired the 2-state committee Business Committee for the NFL. The NFL has an exemption from Congress to package their football games and sell to the highest bidder, which is the valuable part of an NFL franchise. So he personally got 3 Republican senators, Senator Thurmond from South Carolina, Senator Helms, and Senator Faircloth from North Carolina, to attend an NFL owners meeting in Arizona, and they sent that message out.
He was a good friend, yeah. We spent a lot of time arguing about politics. He was quite Republican, and I'm famously liberal, and so we argued about a lot of things, but we were good friends.
He just had a way of connecting with people There might have been a hard exterior, but people could see the big heart.
He was a one-of-a-kind individual that really put his stamp on this community and this region, and we'll benefit from his efforts for many, many years to come.
