{"id":407332,"date":"2026-07-22T01:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T01:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/407332\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T01:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T01:10:13","slug":"downtown-las-graffiti-towers-to-exit-bankruptcy-next-step-to-completing-project-san-gabriel-valley-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/407332\/","title":{"rendered":"Downtown LA\u2019s Graffiti Towers to exit bankruptcy, next step to completing project \u2013 San Gabriel Valley Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

By John Gittelsohn | Bloomberg<\/p>\n

The bankrupt $1.2 billion Oceanwide Plaza project in Los Angeles, dubbed the Graffiti Towers after taggers spray-painted the abandoned complex<\/a>, has been cleared for sale and possible completion more than seven years after the original Chinese developer ran out of money.<\/p>\n

A joint venture between KPC Group Inc., a Southern California real estate firm, and Lendlease Americas Inc., a unit of an Australia-based construction and development company, offered cash and credit worth about $517 million to acquire the project and agreed to complete it at an estimated additional cost of $800 million.<\/p>\n

\"AA U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has cleared the path for sale of the abandoned graffiti-covered development in downtown L-A \u2014 popularly known as the Graffiti Towers. The ruling happened because of the withdrawal of objections by both the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County during a hearing on Monday. The site across from the Los Angeles Convention Center is seen on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

\u201cI am delighted to make the finding that this is a plan that meets all the requirements\u201d for bankruptcy resolution, Judge Deborah Saltzman said, adding that she will enter an official order Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The massive development \u2014 three towers of as many as 55 floors for residences, a hotel and retail space \u2014 has become a symbol of post-pandemic blight in downtown Los Angeles. Efforts to revive the project near the Los Angeles Convention Center and Crypto.com Arena, home of the Los Angeles Lakers, have taken on greater urgency as the city prepares to host the 2028 Olympics.<\/p>\n

\"AA U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has cleared the path for sale of the abandoned graffiti-covered development in downtown L-A \u2014 popularly known as the Graffiti Towers. The ruling happened because of the withdrawal of objections by both the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County during a hearing on Monday. The site across from the Los Angeles Convention Center is seen on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Oceanwide Plaza was about 60% complete when construction stopped in 2018 after the Chinese government cut off spending on overseas investments by the developer, Beijing-based China Oceanwide Holdings. The property was forced into bankruptcy in 2024 after daredevil taggers covered the buildings in graffiti and base jumpers parachuted from its towers, raising concerns that it was a safety hazard.<\/p>\n

The bankruptcy exit deal faced objections from government agencies and some creditors. In a May court filing, the City of Los Angeles argued that the KPC-Lendlease group\u2019s proposal<\/a> lacked evidence it could finance completion beyond initial steps to light a 700-foot-long electronic billboard and open a parking garage. The group also had not moved to renew expired permits and entitlements for the project, the filing said.<\/p>\n

\"AA U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has cleared the path for sale of the abandoned graffiti-covered development in downtown L-A \u2014 popularly known as the Graffiti Towers. The ruling happened because of the withdrawal of objections by both the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County during a hearing on Monday. The site across from the Los Angeles Convention Center is seen on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

On Monday, the city and other objectors withdrew their opposition, citing changes agreed to by KPC, including immediate removal of the graffiti and a back-up buyer if the deal doesn\u2019t close. KPC also agreed to cover increased costs for additional tax, security, legal and architects\u2019 fees.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompleting this project is about far more than finishing a building,\u201d Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. \u201cIt\u2019s about restoring confidence, reconnecting a vital commercial corridor, and unlocking the economic potential of one of the city\u2019s most strategic destinations ahead of a transformative decade for Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n

The KPC group initially agreed in February to acquire the property for $70 million in cash plus about $400 million in a credit bid based on its rights to unpaid construction bills and senior debt originally owed to a group of Chinese EB-5 investors, who financed the development in exchange for potential US resident visas.<\/p>\n

\"AA U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has cleared the path for sale of the abandoned graffiti-covered development in downtown L-A \u2014 popularly known as the Graffiti Towers. The ruling happened because of the withdrawal of objections by both the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County during a hearing on Monday. The site across from the Los Angeles Convention Center is seen on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)A U-S Bankruptcy Court judge has cleared the path for sale of the abandoned graffiti-covered development in downtown L-A \u2014 popularly known as the \u201dGraffiti Towers.\u201d The ruling happened because of the withdrawal of objections by both the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County during a hearing on Monday. The site across from the Los Angeles Convention Center on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Founded by Dr. Kali P. Chaudhuri, KPC owns and develops real estate in the US and India, including a Southern California hospital chain. It is building a 300-room hotel in Inglewood near SoFi Stadium and plans a community with 17,000 housing units in the city of Coachella, east of Los Angeles. The amount Chaudhuri paid for the Chinese EB-5 investors\u2019 stake has not been made public.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team is ready to move from planning to implementation, beginning with graffiti abatement and site cleanup, and ultimately delivering meaningful economic investment, jobs, hospitality and long-term community benefits for Los Angeles,\u201d Chaudhuri said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"AA U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has cleared the path for sale of the abandoned graffiti-covered development in downtown L-A \u2014 popularly known as the Graffiti Towers. The ruling happened because of the withdrawal of objections by both the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County during a hearing on Monday. The site across from the Los Angeles Convention Center is seen on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Lendlease was the general contractor on the Oceanwide property before the bankruptcy but no longer leads construction projects in the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe parties that have the most at stake have put their money behind the plan,\u201d Sharon Weiss, an attorney for debtors in the bankruptcy, said during a hearing Monday. \u201cThat is the strongest possible evidence of feasibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By John Gittelsohn | Bloomberg The bankrupt $1.2 billion Oceanwide Plaza project in Los Angeles, dubbed the Graffiti…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[14026,387,7,8,1647,1011,48,52,51,47,137,50,49,100,388],"class_list":["post-407332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-bankruptcy","tag-business","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-downtown-los-angeles","tag-housing","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-news","tag-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}