Meet Scott Rognlien of Beat Garage in North Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott Rognlien.

Scott, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’m an actor and writer by trade, studying these subjects at Northwestern University with some post graduate work in England. When I returned to Los Angeles (where I grew up), I started a theatre company with some friends and colleagues. Around this time – circa 2004 – my parents began investing in real estate. I spoke with them about considering investing in a building in LA that could house rehearsals, classes, performances, etc. The investment seemed rather risky to them at the time, and the idea faded. In 2008 I began working with my parents more directly in their real estate investments and began turning the venture into a more family-based operation. At the time, they had two office buildings in Central Oregon and I wanted to get something going in LA so we started researching areas and investment products.

My dad’s assistant at the time, Kristi Kane, suggested that we look into musician lockouts. This was a niche real estate market in which musicians rented out creative office space on a month-to-month basis in order to store their gear and practice. Her musician husband and son had used such places in the past and thought it would be an interesting investment. But we could not find an owner of one of these pre-existing lockout buildings that wanted to sell. Being that the alternative was building out this type of facility from scratch, more or less, the idea was deemed too expensive and risky and we settled on a safer investment (an apartment building). In 2013, we stumbled upon a real estate listing for a lockout building. It was located in a small industrial area at the edge of the Noho Arts District in North Hollywood. It was reasonably priced but required a lot of cosmetic repairs. Being that this building already had tenants and was not a “from scratch” project, Kristi and myself were able to convince the family that this was a good investment. And so we began Beat Garage. Within 2 years we were able to complete our cosmetic rehab to the building, increase our tenancy and really learn about the industry of rehearsal room buildings. We discovered that the landscape was changing rapidly and many musicians who were renting these rooms wanted not only to rehearse, but to record. We began adding extra soundproofing to certain rooms and allowed tenants to build their own improvements to allow for recording. With a greater understanding of this niche marketplace we set about to finally build a “from scratch” rehearsal and production facility. We are currently about to finish a 12,000 square foot conversion of a warehouse into 35 rooms. This new facility will offer rooms for rehearsals, production and recording. We feel that this building is quite advanced for the marketplace and offers multiple uses for musicians with various needs.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The rehearsal room business can have some difficult moments. When we bought our first building it was in disarray. We were forced to cancel leases on a number of tenants that were causing trouble. The construction process at our new building has certainly had its own set of challenges, the greatest of which was the loss of our architect and well-known studio designer, Vincent Van Haaf, who passed away early in the process. Logistically it was tough to pick up the pieces, but mostly it was sad to not have him around to see the project come to its conclusion.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Beat Garage – what should we know?
There are a number of rehearsal room options in the Valley area, but we believe Beat Garage offers the best all-around experience. We listen to our tenants and make changes accordingly. We foster a community of musicians in efforts to create an environment where all our clients feel at home in our buildings. This is the place where they come to work, so we keep our facilities clean and up to date. We have prided ourselves in moving with the times, allowing for conversions of rooms to suit recording needs. That forward thinking has informed everything we have done at our new building. For instance, we have built some rooms that are more tailored to the producer by not only being more soundproofed than the rehearsal rooms in the building, but they are also able to patch into isolated tracking rooms. This is ideal for a budding producer – a more professional studio experience, without the extreme cost. The new building also offers spaces for part time rehearsals. These rooms are available as hourly rentals and are suited for touring bands and musicians that don’t want to commit to a month-to-month lease.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Being flexible and nimble is very useful in this business. The music industry is changing very fast these days and we like to stay ahead of things as best we can. We adjust our facilities to suit changing needs.

Contact Info:

• Address: 6860 Farmdale Ave.
  North Hollywood, CA 90605
• Website: www.beatgarage.com
• Phone: 818-358-0099
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @beat_garage
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beatgaragenoho/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/beat-garage-north-hollywood

Image Credit:
Personal Photo of myself and my cousin Rand Rognlien at the NAMM convention in January. Pictures of BG1 location in the Noho Arts District.