John Mayer, McG to Buy Jim Henson Lot in Hollywood

John Mayer isn’t content to just wait on the world to change, he’s making it happen — in Hollywood at least.

The singer-songwriter and Dead & Company frontman, together with film director, producer and former record producer Joseph McGinty Nichol, who goes by the name McG, have together entered a contract to purchase the Jim Henson Company Lot in Hollywood for north of $40 million from the Henson family, according to the L.A. Times.

Mayer spokesperson Larry Solters confirmed the news to Commercial Observer but declined to comment further. It’s unclear how Mayer and McG plan to use the property.

The 80,000-square-foot studio property at 1416 North La Brea Avenue was originally founded by Charlie Chaplin in 1917 and designated as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1969. The Henson family acquired the property in 1999 for $12.5 million, at that point the headquarters of A&M Records, and later erected a statue of Kermit the Frog dressed and posing as Chaplin’s character the Tramp on top of one of the lot’s Tudor Revival buildings.

Reports began circulating this past summer that the Henson family was planning to sell the studio lot, with intentions to merge its headquarters with the Jim Henson Creature Shop in Burbank. The New York Post and other outlets later reported that the Church of Scientology was attempting to buy the lot, though a spokesperson for the Henson family denied that rumor in a statement to Deadline in early October. 

A representative for the Jim Henson Company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Mayer, 47, a musician best known for his singles “Waiting On the World to Change” and “Your Body Is a Wonderland,” has been touring since 2015 with Dead & Company, a band that currently includes two members of the Grateful Dead. Producer-director McG, 56, has directed films such as “Charlie’s Angels,” “The Babysitter” and “Terminator Salvation.”

In other L.A. studio news, Hackman Capital Partners’ $1 billion-plus plan to update and expand the city’s Television City studio complex received the green light from the L.A. City Planning Commission in September. If ultimately approved by the City Council, which intends to issue a decision by the end of the year, completion of the project is expected by 2028.

Meanwhile, in a bid to rejuvenate the state’s entertainment industry, Gov. Gavin Newsom last month announced a proposal to more than double California’s film tax credit allocation to $750 million from its current annual cap of $330 million. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.