Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Heyman and Grant King.
Richard and Grant, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
We started Relevant Group in 2007 with a dream to transform Hollywood into a place where Angelenos and visitors alike could mingle, stay, and live; a transformation we believed was long overdue. We teamed up to reimagine the neighborhood, being dubbed the “Vinyl District,” as a new hub for dining and entertainment, with a vision for creating a mix of chic hotels, restaurants, and other projects. We think of it as Los Angeles’s answer to New York City’s Meatpacking District. Everything Hollywood represents – lofty dreams, hard work, sophistication, taste, glitz, and glam – aligned perfectly with our entrepreneurial spirit for reinvigorating it.
The transformation began when we opened our first Hollywood project, the Dream Hollywood hotel, in 2017. With opulent dining and entertainment offerings from TAO Group and a stunning rooftop pool, lounge and grill, the dream has quickly become Los Angeles’s newest hotspot and is helping to recapture the sophistication and flair that Hollywood has always been synonymous with.
Initially, our sights were only set on the dream. From this ambitious project came a new vision: to bring excitement back to Hollywood. We continue to work on additional projects in this same vein. Capturing the uniqueness and historic elements of Hollywood, we purchased the Citizen News building to transform it into an attractive event space, with access to a hub of new restaurants, shops, exciting nightlife, and luxurious hotels like the dream. We’re also working on the Thompson and Tommie Hotels, which are both set to come online early next year.
We’re just getting started and beginning to see our vision come to fruition with a true renaissance of the new Hollywood. We’re proud to be part of this metamorphosis and look forward to continuing to work to solidify this neighborhood as Los Angeles’s ultimate destination.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Absolutely not. The beginning was very rough, and we’ve had to fight hard for this. As it did for many developers, the 2008 recession affected us deeply. We actually had previously owned the Dream Hollywood property and had dreams to begin the neighborhood’s transformation over a decade ago. However, those were put on hold in the wake of the global economic meltdown.
It was a lesson in patience and resilience. But we didn’t give up, nor abandon our dreams for Hollywood. We got creative instead, seeking out new approaches and working closely with like-minded partners who believed in our vision. We worked tirelessly and stayed true to our original goal every step of the way. And against all odds, we struck a deal and raised the $50 million we needed to buy the property back, and another $300 million on top of that.
We’re a bit of a Cinderella story in that respect. We powered through the global financial crisis and, as all developers did, we learned a lot of valuable lessons that we were able to carry on to the next phase of our business, approaching new challenges with more seasoned wisdom and knowledge. Out of the ashes, we parlayed our efforts to bring to fruition a long-time stalled project into a much bigger vision for what the company – and Hollywood’s Vinyl District – could be. So even though it may have taken a little bit longer than we originally imagined, and required a bit more creativity and elbow grease than we anticipated, it almost makes it even sweeter to see our dream for Hollywood finally begin to come true.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Relevant Group story. Tell us more about the business.
Relevant Group is a vertically integrated, design-focused real estate development company that creates distinctive hospitality, real estate, and lifestyle destinations. With vast and deep experience in hospitality and more than $1 billion worth of projects currently in development, we create luxury lifestyle hotels, world-class restaurants, and dynamic nightspots in prime luxury markets. Our team has more than 50 years of combined development and contracting experience and oversees every phase of development, including acquisition, debt and equity financing, entitlement process, project design, construction, and asset management.
Where some developers are more traditional, we’re anything but old school. We are creative and bold and willing to work on projects that push the envelope and redefine entire neighborhoods. We’re also mindful of the importance of collaboration and work hard to curate the right partnerships that help amplify our vision.
We’re most proud of our team’s spirit and heart, and how dedicated each and every one of us is to make Los Angeles a better place to live, visit, and experience. This is showcased in our deep commitment to listening to and learning from the community. We always work closely with our neighbors and work hard to ensure that any project we’re designing is mindful of the surrounding community, and integrates seamlessly with it.
Relevant Group has diversified over the years as well and is venturing into areas beyond hospitality. We’ve made the issue of affordable housing – one of the most difficult and tragic issues facing Los Angeles today – a crusade for the Relevant family of companies, which underscores how deeply we care for this city and its betterment. We know developers have an important role to play and are doing our part by working on modular housing projects near LA’s Skid Row and in the Westlake neighborhood that will help deliver affordable housing faster, more efficiently and more cost-effectively, allowing vulnerable Angelenos a chance to get off the streets and find a home.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck has had nothing to do with it; it’s been all about persistence, hard work, and resilience. We’ve powered through bad circumstances – including the housing crisis, which easily could have been the end of our vision to revolutionize Hollywood – with patience, and an understanding that big dreams don’t come true overnight. There will always be setbacks. And while the recession was a bigger setback than anyone could have imagined, we didn’t give up.
We kept at it. We continued to believe in our dream and vision. We found new partners who believed in it too and wanted to help us make it come true. And now, we couldn’t be prouder as our vision for a reinvigorated and transformed Hollywood begins to play out, especially knowing that luck had nothing to do with it – it was all about being bold, creative and resilient in the face of challenges.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.relevantgroup.com
Image Credit:
Aaron Jay Young
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