Scottish DJ and record producer Calvin Harris has fallen out with his business manager Thomas St. John to the tune of $22.5 million over funding for a large-scale real estate development in the heart of Hollywood.
The $500-million mixed-use project planned for the busy intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue “has been, at best, a complete boondoggle, and, at worst, a complete fraud,” Harris said in court documents. St. John has denied any wrongdoing.
According to an arbitration demand filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court,Harris, whose legal name is Adam Wiles, said he made a $10-million loan and a $12.5-million equity investment in the project called the CMNTY Culture Campus intended to have a recording studio cultivated to the tastes of top musical artists along with restaurants and high-rise apartments.
Publicly proposed in 2022, the development has yet to be approved by the city. Harris’ lawyers said he invested in the project in 2023 when St. John “became short of cash” and “reached out to one of his most successful clients for an emergency cash infusion.”
DJ Calvin Harris, shown in 2022, said he made a $10-million loan and a $12.5-million equity investment in the proposed CMNTY Culture Campus.
(James Heaton / Associated Press)
Harris invested $10 million as a loan and $12.5 million in equity in the project, lawyers said in the court filing.
Shortly after the equity investment, St. John “distributed over $11 million dollars to himself,” the demand letter said. St. John was Harris’ financial advisor for about 13 years, ending in April.
The proposed CMNTY Culture Campus drew wide attention in early 2022 when plans for a 13-story indoor-outdoor complex were submitted by St. John and Philip Lawrence, then owner of storied Hollywood recording studio Record Plant.
The nearly two-acre complex across the street from Hollywood High School was designed by HKS, the architecture firm that designed SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. The goal was to meld a top-flight recording studio with offices to be rented to people in the entertainment business. There would be public spaces, including an auditorium and an amphitheater where visitors could hear concerts in a landscaped setting high above the street.
An earlier proposed design for the CMNTY Culture Campus included offices instead of apartments.
(HKS Architects)
The complex was intended to have some of the highest-profile recording studios in the industry with pre- and post-production facilities.
In 2024, St. John announced that with the office rental market still soft in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, he would seek city approval for an alternate plan for the site that would have housing instead of offices. The new plan called for 734 apartments in two towers of 34 and 38 stories.
There would be an acre of garden space for tenants atop a five-level garage and a music recording studio at street level, where there would also be a restaurant and perhaps a coffeehouse.
St. John’s attorney, Sasha Frid, didn’t provide a comment about his client’s conflict with Harris, but said in a statement to Variety that Harris “actively pursued this development opportunity.”
“Unhappy with the pace of the project, he chose to pursue private arbitration to assert his discontent,” Frid said. “It’s no secret that due to interest rates and other market factors, real estate projects are taking longer to build. But the development is very much viable and expected to have a $900+ million valuation when completed. Mr. St. John denies any wrongdoing.”
Harris’ attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.
According to the arbitration document filed this month, St. John acknowledged that he is liable for the past-due $10-million loan from Harris and an additional $1.9 million in interest.