# Oceanwide Plaza

Oceanwide Plaza is an unfinished residential and retail complex composed of three towers in downtown Los Angeles, California, across the street from Crypto.com Arena and the Los Angeles Convention Center. The complex, designed by CallisonRTKL, is owned by the Beijing-based developer Oceanwide Holdings.
Construction began in 2015 but stopped when Oceanwide Holdings ran out of funds in 2019. It is unknown when the complex will open; development has been beset by financing problems related to ongoing geopolitical tensions between the US and China. In late January-early February 2024, the building regained attention when at least 27 floors of multiple towers at the complex were tagged with graffiti.

## Design

Oceanwide Plaza was designed by CallisonRTKL. Tower one was designed to feature a 184-room five-star Park Hyatt hotel and 164 Park Hyatt serviced condo residences, a live-in hotel option. It was designed to reach a total height of 675 ft, 49 floors. Towers two and three were designed to have 504 residential condominiums. They were designed to reach a total of 530 ft (160 m), 40 floors in height. A retail mall was designed for the first three floors above ground with 153,000 sq ft (14,200 m$^2$) of retail space. The 9th floor was designed to feature a two-acre private park.

## History

The site was a vacant parking lot used by Crypto.com Arena patrons in the South Park neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles. The site is immediately northwest of Los Angeles Metro Rail's Pico station.
This development is part of a group of projects being developed on Figueroa Street in the 2010s, which allowed the addition of giant video advert screens facing Staples Center. Nearby projects include the Circa Towers and the Luxe Development. Oceanwide renderings also featured large ribbon-style video LED screens.
The three apartment towers began construction in April 2018. By January 2019, interior construction on the project was put on hold. The developer cited restructuring of capital and indicated work on the plaza would resume "shortly". Contractor Lendlease suspended work until late March 2019, when it was announced that construction had resumed after nine active liens had been filed by subcontractors totaling US$98.6 million. Due to the three-month pause in work, the opening date was delayed to an unknown date. Work once again stopped in late 2019. Media reported that the towers were stuck in limbo over unpaid work and pending lawsuits. The towers were an example of Chinese reductions in capital and investing in US real estate due to China's communist government's crackdown on capital flight due to its real estate financial crisis exacerbated by a US trade war. Completion of work was reported to be uncertain and all work was put on hold in late 2019.
After China-Oceanwide failed to pay its debts, the project was foreclosed on by June 2023 and listed for sale. No asking price information was released. China-Oceanwide owed $157 million to a group of EB-5 lenders and planned to repay them from the proceeds of the sale. Lendlease filed a claim in court that it should be first in line for payment in the foreclosure sale. Lendlease also filed with the California Court of Appeals to invalidate the EB-5 loans altogether, claiming fraud and misrepresentation. In filings with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, China-Oceanwide said that more than $1.2 billion was needed to finish the project and that they had already spent $1.1 billion. They removed the building from the sale.
In May 2024, China-Oceanwide re-listed the towers for sale. They reportedly need $400 million to pay off the lenders and re-coup their money. The asking price was not disclosed.

## Graffiti and vandalism

In late December 2023, three taggers, Akua, Sour, and Castle, broke into the tallest building of Oceanside's three towers and spray painted their names across its floor to ceiling windows. Following the event, more members of Los Angeles’ graffiti community began to participate in tagging the skyscraper.
The event sparked political urgency in Los Angeles, leading the Los Angeles Police Department to allocate resources to safeguard property while ensuring public safety. Soon after the tagging of Oceanwide Plaza, the Los Angeles City Council announced a cleanup campaign for the graffiti. On February 9, the Los Angeles City Council voted to bill Oceanwide approximately $4 million for expenses including graffiti removal and barrier reinforcement. The graffiti has yet to be removed.