After months in the headlines, the so-called graffiti towers in downtown Los Angeles are now for sale.
The Oceanwide Plaza development gained international notoriety after taggers spray-painted dozens of floors on all three towers on the unfinished project.
Colliers International and Hilco Real Estate were awarded the listing this week.
“It’s a beautiful vision, and we can’t wait to see it realized,” Colliers International Vice President Adam Tischer said.
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Construction on the Oceanwide Plaza development started in 2015 with the goal of bringing condos, a hotel, retail and state of the art signage to downtown Los Angeles, but work stopped in 2019 when the Chinese developer ran out of money.
In February, contractors on the project filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against Oceanwide. Now the sale will be subject to bankruptcy court approval.
Tischer and Mark Tarczynski are two of the people tasked with selling the property.
“I’m excited to be part of the team that is going to bring this to closure,” Tarczynski said.
Despite the graffiti that fills much of the land, the Colliers team says this project has endless potential and a lot of work is already done.
“It’s what I would believe to be Times Square West,” said Tarczynski, who added that with two thirds of the interior being already finished, only about one third needs to be completed to be ready. ““Once the signage goes up and the retail becomes activated, it’s going to be very exciting.”
A filing in the bankruptcy case says the appraised value is around $440 million.
“We have multiple offers significantly higher than that and it could possibly trade for more than a billion dollars,” Tischer said. “All bidders will be invited, and I have no doubt that we will have interest from typical developers all the way through and including sovereign wealth funds from different countries.”
“Our process is a methodical and fair process,” Tischer said. “A lot of the process will be qualifying the bidders, making sure they have the resources to finish it because what we don’t want is another false start.”
The Colliers team believes a new buyer will be announced and work will re-start by the end of the year.
They hope the new owner will complete the project in time for the 2028 Olympics.
“I want our city to come off in our best light in 2028, and this is the lynch pin to having that happen,” Tarczynski said. “We live here, and it’s important to us that it gets into the right hands and that it gets finished.”
