Developer looks to build 531 studio apartments next to musically famous Morrison Hotel

Relevant Group, which sold the historic Morrison Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles late last year, now wants to build hundreds of homes next door.

The Hollywood-based developer led by Grant King has filed plans to build a 531-unit apartment complex at 1220 South Hope Street, Urbanize Los Angeles and Commercial Observer reported. They would replace some commercial buildings and a parking lot.

Relevant sold the Morrison Hotel, which appeared on The Doors' album cover of the same title, to the Hollywood-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation in December for $12.4 million, but the deal didn't include properties around the hotel.

Plans now call for building an eight-story building with 531 studio apartments atop 7,100 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants and parking for 109 cars on the parcel adjacent to the hotel.

The developer would receive a density bonus allowing a larger building than local zoning permits in exchange for 27 affordable apartments for very low-income households.

The U-shaped project, designed by Downtown-based MVE + Partners, would be accented with brick and wood panels, with hundreds of exterior balconies, according to drawings. The building would have multiple courtyards and a rooftop deck with a pool.

Relevant had initially intended to redevelop the block, including the Morrison Hotel, which it acquired in 2018, into a development with 444 hotel rooms and 136 residential units.

Then the group defaulted on a $13.2 million loan tied to the project, which led to the sale of the century-old Morrison Hotel at a loss, according to The Real Deal.

Meanwhile, the Tommie and Thompson hotels, which Relevant opened in Hollywood in 2021, were acquired by their lenders early last year through foreclosure, according to the Observer.

Both hotels became Hyatt properties, though owners Machine Investment Group and Taconic Capital announced last month that the Tommie hotel would rebrand as Hollywood Volume and depart the Hyatt label for Marriott, according to Los Angeles Magazine.

While its original focus was on hotels in Hollywood, Relevant Group has more recently shifted to Downtown L.A., where the company has proposed similar projects at two sites along Olive Street, according to Urbanize.

Relevant Group, founded in 2007, owns five apartment buildings, with six hotels open or in the pipeline, according to its website. Since last spring, King has worked to save the company's hotel empire a decade after it emerged from bankruptcy.