Chicago Journal looks like a self publishing site. I’ve seen people post on these types of sites to try to boost their own name (though maybe that’s not what’s going on here but it’s my hunch). Has a bunch of random articles unrelated to Chicago.symphonicpoet wrote:Chris himself seemed a tad skeptical in his replies. Quick googling doesn't turn up much. There's nothing on wiki about either the Chicago Journal or Howard Hughes III. (Which isn't itself meaningful, but STLToday, for instance, is at the very least in a lot of footnotes. On the other hand, CityScene-STL does not, so maybe the Chicago Journal is just fairly new or still rather small.) I looked at the author's byline and couldn't find anything off-site. Again, that's not in itself meaningful, but it does suggest he's not a journalist who's been in the business a long time if his only gig is at a small, local website. And the website itself at least looked decent at a glance. So maybe it's just a young site. But it's more curious I couldn't find anything about other developments involving Hughes. There's quite a few references to his work on things like "CEO Weekly" and "Influencer Daily," but nothing with links to any actual projects. (Or even specifics helping you to Google them.) My best guess is he's got some kind of LLC out in Sunset Hills where he's a "wealth manager" managing between "three million and three billion" in capital from private equity groups. Seems like an ambitious young guy trying to make a name for himself. I don't want to trash him based on a half hour of googling around, but I don't have a lot of confidence in this project. It's a great dream. I hope someone does it. But this has my feelers up.
I am skeptical for all the reasons people have mentioned, but I do have some hope that this ends up being true. It's a very slim line of hope, but East St. Louis needs a boost. The numbers do check out ($800 Million) if you were to build two new hotels, 25-50 houses, and renovate buildings/build new ones in Downtown East St. Louis. Although all of this would have to be concentrated around their Downtown area rather than spread out, which makes sense. But since this is so weird and out of the blue, skepticism is rightfully a majority of the mindset right now.symphonicpoet wrote: ↑Mar 01, 2022Chris himself seemed a tad skeptical in his replies.
https://www.bnd.com/news/local/article2 ... rylink=cpyTeresa Fuller also attended Friday’s ceremony. She’s the public relations specialist for the R.I.T.E. Plan Initiative, an East St. Louis organization that’s focused on rebuilding the city’s infrastructure. The organization helped supply the lights for the Christmas tree. The R.I.T.E. Plan Initiative, along with Howard Hughes Consulting, Clayco, Ameren Illinois and Harambee International, sponsored the event.
“This is something that is very dear to us because our founder is from East St. Louis, and he wanted to find a way to give back to the community as well as rebuild it in that fashion,” Fuller said. “Our first project is the waste energy facility, which will be cleaning the area and revitalizing it.”...
...Eastern III said he’s excited about the new developments that’ll take place next year. Although he didn’t specify what those plans are, he said more details will start to unfold soon.
“We’re excited about this,” Eastern III said after the event. “Any time we can get the community out here and have some positive light on our city is good. “What we’re more excited about is the people who sponsored this event, which is Clayco, Howard Hughes and the R.I.T.E. Plan. These are developers that are going to be coming into our city, and there’s going to be big things to look forward to in 2022.”
He’s on LinkedIn.Laife Fulk wrote: ↑Mar 01, 2022I have zero doubt that HH III may have come up with some sort of vision to help ESL, and may have even reached out to some firms like Clayco at some point. But agreed that the Chicago Journal and his website are both littered with red flags. HH III, in my opinion, feels like someone who has been successful as becoming an influencer who is most interested in selling services, books and t-shirts. Just look at the Services section of his website - a one hour Financial Literacy Session costs $2,350 for 1 hour. That's insane on so many fronts (if you really need financial literacy help, spending $2K for a single hour is someone simply taking advantage of you).
I'm afraid that the ESL pitch is just another way to try and market himself. And at best his plan is also reliant solely on public funding to get anything done, e.g., not that much different than McKee's north side boondoggle.
There was never a doubt in my mind about this one. His LinkedIn activity was a dead giveaway.Ebsy wrote:https://archive.ph/YYQTP
In depth Post-Dispatch investigation of this guy, to say we were right to be skeptical of his bona fides would be an understatement. What a scumbag!
