LA graffiti towers enter a new phase after cleanup
Oceanwide Plaza’s three unfinished towers in downtown Los Angeles have lost most of their graffiti after a $517 million sale. The new owners plan to finish the residential, hotel and retail complex, with major exterior work targeted before the 2028 Olympics and occupancy expected in late 2028. Local reactions reflect both support for renewed construction and attachment to the painted skyline.
Los Angeles’ graffiti towers are changing again as Oceanwide Plaza moves from years of stalled construction toward a renewed development project. The California Post, published on the New York Post website, reported on November 11 that almost all the painted exterior had been cleaned following the complex’s $517 million bankruptcy sale. The visible change has reopened a question about the site’s place in the city: how will people remember the painted towers as their intended use returns?
What happened to Oceanwide Plaza’s graffiti towers?
Crews cleaned roughly 250 balconies, working from suspended platforms as high as 35 floors above the ground, according to the California Post. They collected approximately 1,000 discarded spray cans. Those figures make the operation more concrete than a distant photograph of three newly cleared buildings: the exterior consisted of hundreds of separate working surfaces, with different layers of paint and different access problems.
Some balconies took about an hour to clean; others required four or five hours. The newspaper attributed that account to KPC Group real estate development head John Petty, speaking to the LA Business Journal. Layers of paint, primer and clear coating complicated removal. Windows between balconies presented another challenge, requiring platforms lowered from the roof.
The California Post reported that the contractors tested several options before choosing products from East Los Angeles company World’s Best Graffiti Removal Products. Heated chemicals and water were used to strip the paint. For anyone following street art, the practical detail matters: a large painted facade is also a material surface whose layers affect maintenance work long after the first image circulates online.
The sale came with a cleanup deadline
The approved purchaser was KPC Square, a joint venture between KPC Group and Lendlease. According to the California Post, approval came on July 21, 2026, with a court-approved requirement to remove graffiti from the three towers within 90 days, ending October 20. Petty said crews finished the final balcony at 4 p.m. on that date after working overtime.
That milestone concerns the balcony operation. ABC7’s November 10 report showed the wider exterior largely cleared, with some graffiti still visible. The most accurate picture is therefore a substantial transformation of the complex rather than a claim that every trace of paint has disappeared.
The purchase price and the remaining construction budget also describe different stages. ABC7 reported that the developers intend to invest about $850 million to finish a project they describe as roughly 60 percent complete. Buying the property, cleaning its exterior and delivering usable buildings are connected tasks, but each marks a different part of the redevelopment.
Why the buildings stood unfinished
Oceanwide Plaza began construction in 2015 as a $1.2 billion luxury development opposite Crypto.com Arena and LA Live. The California Post reported that work stopped in 2019 when Beijing-based parent company Oceanwide Holdings ran out of money. Lendlease was left with more than $150 million in unpaid bills, and the following five years brought neither financing nor a buyer.
During the long interruption, the unfinished structures acquired another identity. ABC7 described a site that attracted graffiti writers and people attempting dangerous activities, including tightrope walks between towers and parachute jumps. The resulting visibility did not make the buildings an authorized painting venue or a safe destination to enter. Their role as a widely recognized image existed alongside their status as an incomplete development.
What is planned before the 2028 Olympics?
The mixed-use concept remains. The California Post listed 504 luxury condominiums, a 184-room Park Hyatt hotel and more than 150,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space in the retained layout. ABC7 likewise reported plans for housing, a luxury hotel and retail uses.
Major exterior work is targeted for completion before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. ABC7 said the new owners expect occupancy by late 2028. Those are separate milestones: a changed exterior before the Games and a later point at which people can occupy the buildings. The cleanup is the most immediately visible step in a much larger construction programme.
A changing skyline can carry conflicting attachments
ABC7 found both approval of the cleanup and a wish to preserve the towers’ painted appearance. University of Southern California graduate student Lauren Miranda welcomed the prospect of the buildings being completed while also describing the graffiti-covered complex as a symbol of Los Angeles. Her response gives room to two feelings at once: support for a functioning development and attachment to a familiar urban image.
For street-art documentation, that tension makes dates and setting especially useful. A photograph of Oceanwide Plaza records more than a painted facade; it records a particular stage in the life of an unfinished property. As work continues, the same towers will tell a different story about downtown Los Angeles. Keeping the images connected to their location and moment preserves that change without deciding that every viewer must value the old skyline in the same way.
Questions & answers
Where are the Los Angeles graffiti towers?
The Los Angeles graffiti towers are the three unfinished buildings of Oceanwide Plaza in downtown Los Angeles, opposite Crypto.com Arena and LA Live. Construction began in 2015 and stopped in 2019. The complex subsequently became widely recognized for the graffiti covering its exterior.
Has all the Oceanwide Plaza graffiti been removed?
November 2026 coverage showed most of Oceanwide Plaza’s graffiti removed. The new ownership reported finishing roughly 250 balconies on October 20, while ABC7’s aerial coverage still showed some remaining paint. The cleanup substantially changed the towers’ appearance before the wider development is completed.
When will Oceanwide Plaza be occupied?
Oceanwide Plaza’s new owners expect occupancy in late 2028, according to ABC7. Major exterior work is separately targeted before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The retained development plan combines 504 condominiums, a hotel and retail space, so exterior cleanup is one stage of a broader construction project.