Graffiti Towers downtown Los Angeles are free of graffiti, development continues

The Graffiti Towers downtown Los Angeles need a new name because the graffiti has been cleaned up.

The sprawling 1.5 million-square-foot complex on S Flower St. actually has an official name, Los Angeles Oceanwide Plaza, and once new owners stepped in this summer, cleanup started.

On Thursday, developers and city leaders gathered to announce the spray-painted exterior is nearly completely gone.

Los Angeles Councilmember Ysabel Jurado called it "A new dawn. It's a new day." She said the city had demanded that any potential owner had to clean up the site before the 2028 Olympics.

"We wanted to make sure that not a single dime more of taxpayer funds would be used to clean this up," she said.

A China-based developer abandoned the $1 billion Ocean Plaza project in 2019 after four years of construction because they were unable to continue financing it.   

This left it a half-finished, abandoned canvas for graffiti artists, making it a viral hot spot. The city ended up paying for perimeter fencing, removal of sidewalk scaffolding and ground security to keep trespassers out, and off the towers.

Brad Sharp, president and CEO of DSI Consulting, said he oversaw the bankruptcy process and the process for finding a buyer for the property.

"When Oceanwide Plaza entered bankruptcy in February of 2024, our mandate was clear: find a buyer with the means and the will to finish this project … " Sharp said.

In July, bankruptcy court confirmed the sale to KPC Square, a joint venture between The KPC Group and Lendlease.

"Right away, even before the sale closed, within 48 hours of the bankruptcy court's approval, crews were on site, and what you see behind me is the product of KPC's commitment to finalizing this deal and getting this project finished," Sharp said.

John Petty, KPC Group director of real estate and construction, said in July that the project will be completed as originally designed, with large residential units and retail space, since permits are already in place.

He said the ground floor includes 153,000 square feet of retail, half of which is new food and beverage. Petty said. In all, there will be 504 condominiums and a 184-room hotel on the site.

"Downtown has waited a long time to look up at these towers and see a sign of what's to come, rather than what could have been," Sharp said.