Graffiti Removal Sets Stage for Sale of Oceanwide Plaza

Los Angeles city officials joined Thursday with the buyers of Oceanwide Plaza to celebrate the nearly complete removal of graffiti that extended to the upper floors of the unfinished mixed-use project, the Los Angeles Times reported. Removal of the graffiti was a top priority of the city, which imposed the job on expected buyers KPC Group and Lendlease as a condition of the bankruptcy sale, which is set to close in January

“This is the end of the medieval period and the beginning of the Renaissance,” KPC’s John Petty told the Times. He said completion of the project is set to begin soon after the sale closes, and that the three-tower complex would be completed as designed with 504 residential units, a luxury hotel and a shopping center.

The original developer, Beijing-based Oceanwide Holdings, spent about $1.2 billion on the project before running out of money in 2019 and halting work at about 60% completion. It will take another $850 million to finish it, Petty said. 

A few years after construction was suspended, taggers began turning Oceanwide Plaza’s skyscrapers into canvases for graffiti. Some downtown stakeholders regarded the highly visible graffiti display as an embarrassment and an eyesore, the Times reported.