Buyer for Oceanwide Plaza’s infamous graffitied towers emerges

A buyer has emerged for the notorious graffiti-bedecked towers in downtown Los Angeles — a Riverside County developer who intends to finish the stalled $1.2-billion project.

The proposed buyer of the residential, hotel and retail project in bankruptcy proceedings is a partnership led by Kali P. Chaudhuri, whose KPC Development Co. owns and builds commercial properties in California and India.

KPC is building a $300-million hotel next to SoFi Stadium, an addition to Rams owner Stan Kroenke’s sprawling mixed-use development on the former site of the Hollywood Park horse racing venue in Inglewood.

On Monday KPC and its partner Lendlease, the original contractor for the project, filed an initial purchase agreement in federal bankruptcy court that establishes a baseline price of $470 million for the complex. If no higher qualified offer is received by April 9, the court could approve the sale.

“I’m very excited,” Chaudhuri said. “I’ll try my very best to turn it around and make it the jewel of downtown L.A.”

If the court approves the sale, it would take several months to complete due diligence and secure city construction approvals, he said. KPC would then take title and begin work.

Removing the graffiti would be “first priority,” he said. The plan is to complete the project as it was created with housing, a hotel, stores and restaurants.

The first phase of construction would include putting on the massive LED screen planned to wrap around the base of the complex on 11th Street, Figueroa Street and 12th Street.

Street level view from Hope St. and 12th St. of Oceanwide Plaza in downtown Los Angeles.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Chaudhuri also intends to change the name of the complex, which was named after its original developer Oceanwide Holdings, though he didn’t say what the new name might be.

Work on Oceanwide Plaza stalled in 2019 as its developers ran out of money. Early in 2024, taggers began turning its skyscrapers into canvases for florid graffiti art. Base jumpers parachuted from its heights and a performance artist filmed himself teetering along a 1-inch-wide slackline strung between two of the derelict properties’ 40-story towers.

The complex gained fame as an arresting sight on the L.A. skyline, a graffiti-covered oddity on Figueroa Street — the wide thoroughfare that connects downtown’s financial district with L.A. Live, Crypto.com Arena and the Los Angeles Convention Center. It fills a large city block across the street from the arena, an A-plus location in real estate terms for being in the midst of year-round activity.

An April 2024 appraisal by real estate brokerage Colliers submitted in a bankruptcy case involving the project estimated the as-is market value of the complex at nearly $434 million. Colliers also projected a cost of $865 million to complete the buildings, which are 60% finished. Other industry estimates to complete the project reach $1 billion.

Real estate developments stall from time to time as developers run out of money, but rarely do they fail in such a high-profile manner as Oceanwide Plaza, which was supposed to be a glamorous addition to the skyline and center of activity in the bustling sports and entertainment district of downtown’s South Park neighborhood.

Beijing-based Oceanwide Holdings bought a sprawling parking lot across from the arena in 2014 and soon set to work on a three-tower complex intended to house luxury condominiums and apartments, and a five-star hotel supported by upmarket stores and restaurants. It was also to include a massive electronic sign intended to help bring a Times Square flavor to Figueroa Street.

The international company ran into financial problems that coincided with a Chinese government decision to restrict the flow of outbound investment. Work stopped on Oceanwide Plaza in early 2019 as contractors building it stopped being paid.

In February 2024, general contractor Lendlease filed a petition for the involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Oceanwide Holdings to force a sale of the property and pay creditors who were demanding almost $400 million. Major creditors include Lendlease and EB-5 visa investors, who helped fund construction.

Oceanwide also owes back taxes to Los Angeles County and money to repay the city for security put in place in response to the graffiti and other incidents such as parachute leaps.

“Right in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, the blighted Oceanwide Plaza has been an eyesore for too long due to failed ownership,” Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement Friday. “With the resurgence of our Downtown and as we prepare to host Olympic and Paralympic events right across the street, I look forward to working with the new ownership to transform this plaza into something that spurs further investment — and that Angelenos can be proud of.”

“Downtown’s resurgence is real, and the interest in this property proves it,” said Nella McOsker, president of the Central City Assn. business support group. “We call on the new owners to immediately clean this site and join us in leading the DTLA turnaround. Erasing this stain on our skyline is essential to restoring confidence and accelerating DTLA’s comeback.”

Among KPC’s other developments are hospitals in Riverside and Orange counties and a 300,000-square-foot office campus in Corona, where the company is based. It has built a nursing college and 1,000-bed hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. KPC is also building two residential projects in Kolkata, including a 74-story skyscraper, the company said.