DJ Calvin Harris says he lost $22.5 million in high-profile Hollywood real estate development

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.

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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.

“Not a single dollar has been misappropriated,” a representative for St. John said in a statement. “All investor entitlements remain intact, and the project continues to advance within the normal entitlement timeline. Upon completion, this landmark development is expected to approach a $1 billion valuation delivering extraordinary benefit to the Hollywood community as well as to its investors.

“While the entitlement process has naturally taken longer than initially projected due to unprecedented interest rates, macroeconomic conditions, and significant city red tape, it remains firmly within its promised schedule,” the representative said.

Harris’ attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.