Downtown Los Angeles’ notorious “Graffiti Towers” have been nearly cleared of their illegal artwork after the unfinished development changed hands in a $517 million bankruptcy sale.
Oceanwide Plaza—a group of three incomplete skyscrapers—had stood deserted since 2019, turning into a highly visible and viral canvas for graffiti artists. Now, the long-abandoned towers opposite Crypto.com Arena are being redeveloped as Los Angeles prepares to host the 2028 Olympic Games.
Cleaning teams worked from suspended platforms as high as 35 stories above the ground, removing graffiti from roughly 250 balconies. The operation also uncovered about 1,000 discarded spray-paint cans and a loaded firearm.
A court approved the purchase by KPC Square, a partnership between KPC Group and Lendlease, on July 21, 2026.
Under the terms of the approved sale, the new owners were required to remove graffiti from all three unfinished buildings within 90 days—a deadline that fell on Oct. 20.
“We finished the 250th one at 4 o’clock on Oct. 20, exactly 90 days,” John Petty, KPC Group’s head of real estate development, told the LA Business Journal. “We had to work overtime to get there.”
The strips of glass and concrete between the balconies proved especially difficult to reach, requiring crews to lower suspended platforms from the rooftops.
While some balconies could be cleaned in about an hour, others required four or five hours of work. Vandals had repeatedly layered paint, applied primer and added clear protective coatings, Petty told the Journal.
Workers used extremely hot chemicals and water to remove the layers of paint. KPC tested multiple cleaning methods before selecting World’s Greatest Graffiti Removal Products for the job.
According to Petty, the East Los Angeles company’s owner “has come out here and basically played master chemist.”
Construction on Oceanwide Plaza began in 2015 as a $1.2 billion luxury project featuring a Park Hyatt hotel, condominiums and retail space near Crypto.com Arena and LA Live.
The project was shelved in 2019 after its Beijing-based parent company, Oceanwide Holdings, ran out of funding. The halt left contractor Lendlease with more than $150 million in unpaid bills, while Oceanwide spent the following five years unable to secure new financing or find a buyer.
The redevelopment will preserve the original mixed-use vision: 504 luxury condominiums, a 184-room Park Hyatt hotel and more than 150,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.