Inglewood Mayor James Butts and his wife Judy have invested in yet another Inglewood home. Purchased for nearly $700k, the mayor has (allegedly) taken up residence at 3215 W. 82nd St. The realtor, Michelle Hicks, was able to broker the deal between Robert and Butts due to her close relationship between the two.
Christine Robert, from The Robert Group, has enjoyed many lucrative contracts for work on the Inglewood NFL stadium project as well as the impending Clippers arena. She is responsible for the Inglewood Forward campaign to promote Inglewood businesses who support the project.
Related: What’s going on in the city of Inglewood: Failure to Dislcose Economic Interests
Property records show Robert sold her family home to the mayor in April 2018. Will Mayor Butts flip this house, for a profit, as he did his former property at 8808 5th Ave? More importantly, why has it taken him SEVEN years to invest in a home where he serves as mayor?
When reached for comment on whether these types of transactions are typical, Ms. Hicks abruptly ended the call.
**Update**
This article has been updated to reflect that the home was placed on the MLS, and was not a private sale, based on comment received by Christine Robert after this story was first publshed.
1 Comment
Hey Melissa – Chris Robert here. Hope all is well. You certainly have been busy, which is always a good thing for African American entrepreneurs.
I know you are an astute and accomplished journalist and that you would NEVER want to intentionally publish false information. The house on 82nd Street was publicly listed on MLS beginning in August, it showed “in escrow /sale pending” for a couple of months and then was listed as active again in November when then current tenants couldn’t make the deal happen. In early November (I think) it was changed to an active listing – which incidentally is how the Butts family found the house. I actually never shared with the Mayor or anyone with the City that the house was on the market as tenants at the time demonstrated every interest in purchasing – until they couldn’t come up with the down payment. Easy for you to correct and fact check as all of this is a matter of public record.
However, should you decide not to correct, I can only assume that you are intent on publishing false information toward the goal of damaging my reputation. Which is why they are called reputations built up over a period of time.
My work in the community for over 40 years, starting with our hiring practices at F & M, speaks for itself. Continued best.