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Oceanwide Plaza auction rumored for mid-September after buyers' interest springs

2024-08-19T15:27:00-04:00

Multiple new bids to takeover the unfinished Oceanwide Plaza complex in downtown LA were reported last week in what could be a positive sign for its future. As per connectcre.com's reporting, an auction has been scheduled for “mid-September.” The update comes after months of speculation as to the future of the graffiti-tagged towers and a few short weeks after a new "saw horse" bidder had dropped their inquiry without submitting any offers.

“A key hurdle that any buyer would need to surmount is the question of financing: not so much to acquire the project, but rather to finish construction on it. The project has been appraised as-is at $434 million by Colliers as part of the Oceanwide Plaza bankruptcy proceedings. Completing the three-tower residential, retail and hotel complex could mean spending twice that amount,” their report reminds us.

(The 1.4-million-square-foot CallisonRTKL design was abandoned in 2020 and now stands as perhaps the largest unfinished project in the United ...

The Oceanwide Plaza dilemma: What should LA do?

2024-07-01T14:30:00-04:00

With a potential fire sale of the residential, hotel and retail project approaching, a far more complex and expensive question looms over one of the region’s all-time real estate catastrophes: Can it be saved from the wrecking ball?

With the fate of LA’s graffiti-tagged Oceanwide Plaza in the balance, the LA Times' Roger Vincent looked into the lack of viable options, finding several CRE experts’ opinions that simply "it’s not worth the risk" trying to "fix" the currently 60% complete three-tower development. This raises several intriguing, if not "unimaginable," potentialities: The complex could be demolished (an option the paper reported in May) or continue in new hands following a fire sale. Its most recently reported value was just $485 million.

Oceanwide Plaza, LA's unfinished high-rise graffiti mecca, faces impending sale

2024-05-10T12:00:00-04:00

The Chinese owners of the stalled residential, hotel and retail complex towering over Crypto.com Arena have hired real estate brokers to sell the property to buyers who could restart the project after work stopped in 2019. Taggers recently covered its outer walls with graffiti visible from far away.

The LA Times also reports the brokerage firm Colliers to have submitted an application estimating the property’s current value at $485 million and stating it is still just 60% completed. Another $865 million would be required to finish the block-scale development designed by CallisonRTKL. Some had speculated it could be demolished. Costs for the cleanup of possibly the greatest graffiti takeover of recent memory have been reported at $3.8 million.

Oceanwide Plaza: Graffiti 'vandalism' or the greatest tag 'takeover' of all time?

2024-03-09T08:00:00-05:00

The New York Times has entered the debate surrounding LA's troubled Oceanwide Plaza development this week after social media and the outside press tied its celebrity status to the neglect of downtowns, housing rights issues, and their relationship to developer capitalism.

The Times piece follows news of the city’s recent order on Oceanwide to install a security fence to prevent against interlopers' vandalism and the 'public nuisance' the highly publicized graffiti artwork has turned the unfinished project into.

'Vandalism' is a charged term to apply in this case, but it has affected other sites near Downtown Los Angeles, like the copper wire-stripped Sixth Street Viaduct, in the midst of its delayed economic rebound. The street art community is here portrayed alongside BASE jumpers as a lawless quandary that considers their “takeover” a bar-raising move geared mainly at promotion and exposure. A smarter take is that taggers have the broader consensus of society so well-figured tha...

LA City Council orders graffiti removal on infamous unfinished Oceanwide Plaza towers

2024-02-12T13:33:00-05:00

City Council Members in Los Angeles have issued a mandate to owners of the graffiti-tagged Oceanview Plaza development in Downtown to remove the artwork weeks after its unfinished exterior became a national news item and the latest flash point in a debate over the citywide housing crisis that has lingered for a number of years.

By a vote of 14-0, Council Members approved Kevin de León’s motion calling for the city to foot the bill for cleaning up the stalled $1 billion towers if China-based developer Oceanwide fails to meet their February 17th deadline for removal. (CoStar first reported on the motion this weekend h/t Bizow.com.)

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The internet sensation was covered in tags last month by artists apparently inspired by an early December operation in downtown Miami and able to bypass the security detail on site, which has been embroiled in a payment dispute with developers since last ye...