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Los Angeles Times
17 hours ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Graffiti-tarnished towers in downtown L.A. remain in limbo
Early last year, vandals breached fencing, climbed dozens of flights of stairs and painted bold, colorful graffiti on the exterior of three unfinished high-rises that make up the abandoned Oceanwide Plaza development. The so-called Graffiti Towers — visible from great distances on the 110 Freeway and looming over thousands of visitors attending events across the street at Arena — were expected to be sold in a bankruptcy auction a year ago. But the long-running bankruptcy sale of downtown Los Angeles' most spectacular eyesore drags on with no clear end in sight. Experts blame a confluence of factors, including high interest rates, rising construction costs and delays in attracting viable bidders. Construction on what would have been one of the city's most notable landmarks, with high-rise housing, a hotel and a shopping center, halted in 2019 when Beijing-based conglomerate Oceanwide Holdings ran out of money to pay contractors after spending $1.2 billion on the complex that fills a large city block on Figueroa Street. Business leaders have expressed alarm that the graffiti some find artistic will prove embarrassing when global attention is focused on the World Cup next year and the Summer Olympics in 2028. Resolution of the Oceanwide Plaza saga also can't come soon enough for many downtown stakeholders who see the graffitied towers — rising as high as 49 stories — as a dark presence besmirching the city and sending a negative message about the neighborhood. 'The Graffiti Towers have worldwide infamy at this point,' said Cassy Horton, co-founder of the DTLA Residents Assn. 'It's like this beacon that shines and says, 'Come create mischief down here and you won't get in trouble. This is the spot to do it.'' The graffiti is likely to remain until a new owner takes on the painstaking task of removing it. More than a year ago, a federal judge set a Sept. 17 auction of the property, saying there were several potential bidders. The winner of the auction ultimately wasn't able to come up with the promised purchase price and negotiations commenced with other bidders. The real estate broker managing the sale, Mark Tarczynski of Colliers, declined to comment on the status of the sale but told real estate publication the Real Deal recently that two real estate development companies, one from the U.S. and one from abroad, are now competing as bidders. He said he anticipates closing the deal by the end of the year. The purchase price, which would be used to pay creditors including general contractor Lendlease and EB-5 visa investors, would just be the beginning of expenses for the new owner. Estimates to complete the project reach $1 billion, even though it is about 60% completed. Challenges to get it done include market conditions that are hamstringing other planned real estate developments. Builders complain of high interest rates for borrowing money to finance construction. New tariffs are driving up the cost of imported construction materials while raising uncertainty about how long the tariffs may last or what new ones may arise. Labor costs have also been increasing in recent years, and the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids have added a destabilizing effect on the construction labor pool, industry observers have said. Los Angeles architect Douglas Hanson, who designed the 35-story Circa apartment complex next to Oceanwide Plaza, has an idea to shield people's gaze from the graffitied towers and bring in some money. He suggests rolling down vinyl advertising signs that could be seen on the from the freeway on the west side of the complex and lowering other vinyl coverings on the east side that would display a beach scene or some other art. 'You can get good money for advertising in that neighborhood,' which allows large commercial displays, Hanson said. Ad revenue would more than pay for the signs, he said. The buildings wouldn't be fully wrapped like a Christo art project, he said. 'Just drape them down and leave a little bit of the history of the building behind them.' The Oceanwide Plaza site was a sprawling asphalt lot used for event parking when Oceanwide Holdings bought it in 2014 with a vision to build a fancy, mixed-use development that was far bigger in scale than what is typically built in the U.S. Oceanwide set to work on the complex, which was intended to house luxury condominiums, apartments, a five-star Park Hyatt hotel and an indoor mall that would include deluxe shops and restaurants. A massive electronic sign on its facade was to bring a flavor of Times Square to Figueroa Street. Many of the residents and visitors were expected to be Chinese citizens, but the country's government implemented tighter controls on money leaving the country in 2019 and the pool of potential condo buyers shrunk.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Yahoo
'Beyond comprehension'; Chainsawed trees in downtown L.A. hint at city core's decline
Downtown Los Angeles has seen more than its share of indignity over the last few years. The pandemic sent office vacancy rates rising as masses of in-person workers stayed home, and, in turn, many restaurants and businesses shuttered. Homelessness soared amid interconnected economic, mental health and drug crises. And though downtown has since seen some development, a looming sense of disarray and decline lingers. After the 6th Street Viaduct was triumphantly unveiled, its hype quickly gave way to unruly street takeovers and copper thieves wire-stripping its lighting. Even as the skyline expanded, Angelenos' attention fell on two skyscrapers that taggers had almost entirely covered in graffiti. Which is why this weekend's shocking act of vandalism that took out six of the city's mature trees felt all the more disheartening. 'This has struck a chord," said Cassy Horton, a 37-year-old downtown resident. "It just really like flies in the face of everything that we're trying to do [to revitalize] the community, and for somebody to go around ... and set back what little progress we already have ... was really, really upsetting and hurtful." Read more: Vandals chainsaw dozens of trees across downtown L.A. Along with safety, she said, green space has been one of the top concerns of the almost 100,000 people who live downtown, so the attack on some of the area's few trees particularly angered people. "It's kind of an 'Enough is enough,'" said Horton, who serves on the board of directors of the Downtown Los Angeles Residents Assn., which advocates for more than 2,300 residents and community stakeholders. "A lot of the issues that we face when we're talking about homelessness and mental health and open-air drug use and all of these things — they feel really thorny and complicated. ... But something like this, it's become a bit of a rallying cry for people downtown. We want to have a warm, welcoming, safe public realm." Many of the downed trees were discovered Saturday morning, when images of the sawed trunks and their massive, felled branches lit up online message boards and went viral on social media. On Wednesday, the LAPD announced the arrest of Samuel Patrick Groft, 45, on suspicion of felony vandalism. Investigators say they linked the suspect to 13 downed trees in five locations across the city, and tips about additional trees continue to come. Groft was reportedly captured on surveillance footage using an electric chainsaw to cut down the trees on several different days, at several different times for more than a week. The earliest confirmed date was April 13. StreetsLA, the city bureau responsible for maintaining streets and the urban forest, said its teams confirmed a total of six trees vandalized downtown this past weekend: three ficus, two sycamore and one Chinese elm, according to a statement from bureau director Dan Halden. These large shade trees, many along South Grand Avenue, were severed at the base or cut several feet above the pavement. He didn't immediately respond to questions about trees that were cut in other parts of L.A. The StreetsLA team "quickly responded and cleared the debris from all six locations," Halden said. He said they were still evaluating the total cost of the damage and of potential replacements. For many, this blatant act of disrespect represents the latest failure by city officials to keep downtown from further deterioration, and underscores a gnawing feeling that the heart of Los Angeles has fallen by the wayside. 'It's indicative of the lack of regard,' said John Sischo, a longtime developer downtown. 'It's because no one is really caring. ... This stuff happens when there's not enough people." Sischo said it's hard to get people and businesses to return to the area when there are real and perceived safety concerns that remain unaddressed. A turnaround requires addressing homelessness through an engaged and proactive government that works cooperatively with business and local leaders, he said. He hasn't seen that yet. Read more: In Altadena, a fight to save the trees that survived the fire In many ways, Paul Kaufman, a small business owner downtown, agrees. 'There are some areas of progress, but it seems very halting," Kaufman said, who loves the area and believes it deserves better. "Something seems really great and then it withers. .... The real thing to make downtown work and feel safer is to have more people there." Downtown offices remain about one-third vacant, according to real estate brokerage CBRE, with the pandemic's effects still looming large. Crime rates in the area appear to be relatively stable over the last few months, according to available data from LAPD's Central Division, which covers all of downtown. (However, it's hard to comprehensively evaluate how much crime has changed over the last few years, as the LAPD recently overhauled how it records such statistics.) But there have been areas of progress and resilience: Apartments downtown have remained relatively full. New restaurants are opening, Metro's regional connector is up and running, and several new high-end retail and hotel spaces have debuted. Plus, plans to revitalize the L.A. Convention Center and gear up for the the 2028 Olympics promise a wave of investment in downtown. And perhaps that's why this violent assault on the community's trees "really struck a nerve," said Nick Griffin, the executive vice president of the DTLA Alliance, formerly the Downtown Center Improvement District. "In the downtown L.A. community, we are working to bring downtown back and [are] particularly focused on improving the public realm — this just seemed like such a senseless attack on that," Griffin said. 'It just seems so absurdly senseless." But he and other area organizers are hopeful the concern about the trees — and what it means about the state of downtown living — could inspire renewed action, investment and hope. 'In some ways, one of the key things that we're focused on is building the community and coalitions that it takes to revitalize a place like downtown," Griffin said. "There's no one silver bullet and there's no one organization that can do it.' Ricardo Sebastián, an entrepreneur who lives and works downtown, has been trying to change the perception of the neighborhood through social media and marketing campaigns — but unfortunately, it feels like this incident could hurt those efforts. 'This actually perpetuates the stereotype that downtown is dirty, filthy, unsafe," Sebastián said. 'We can paint and we can prime and we can build out storefronts and bring in really interesting businesses. ... But if we have people coming into town wielding chainsaws or defacing [buildings] .... we have to work that much harder." For some, that's the plan. Horton and other board members from the residents group have called for immediate action from city officials, both to replace the trees and to hold the perpetrator to account — in an effort to help "shift the anti-social, chaotic trajectory of our neighborhood," the group wrote in a letter to city officials. The group said it looked forward to working with officials, notably Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents downtown, to ensure that "the loss of these trees signals the beginning of the end of the ongoing corrosion of DTLA's public realm." "We need champions; we need folks in L.A. to care about downtown and to see it as the heart of our city," Horton said. "It's where we convene, it's where we protest, it's where we go out. ... We're starting to see some of our elected leaders step up and support us, but our challenges are acute." Read more: Former L.A. Councilmember Kevin de León faces ethics fine for voting on issues in which he had a financial stake In a public statement, Jurado's office said her team was in "close communication" with the LAPD about its ongoing investigation, and that she had brought forward a motion that would increase penalties in the municipal code for tree injury violations, in hopes of deterring future incidents. The statement thanked the community for bringing the issue to officials' attention, saying "this is exactly what co-governance in action looks like. Stay tuned for updates." The office of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement calling the act "beyond comprehension." "City public works crews are assessing the damage and we will be making plans to quickly replace these damaged trees," Bass' spokesperson Zach Seidl said in a statement. "Those responsible must be held accountable." But some didn't see this incident as a sign of larger issues downtown, though there's a clear environmental loss with losing any tree: They provide shade, stormwater and pollution management and habitats for birds and other small animals. Urban trees have also been found to slow the deterioration of streets and reduce crime. "It's a huge hit," said Lee Coffee, who lives and works in downtown L.A., mostly lamenting the loss of shade. But he called the whole ordeal "kind of random." "The cleanup was really fast," Coffee said. 'I haven't noticed any other events like this." Times staff writers Roger Vincent and Clara Harter contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
24-04-2025
- Los Angeles Times
‘Beyond comprehension'; Chainsawed trees in downtown L.A. hint at city core's decline
Downtown Los Angeles has seen more than its share of indignity over the last few years. The pandemic sent office vacancy rates rising as masses of in-person workers stayed home, and, in turn, many restaurants and businesses shuttered. Homelessness soared amid interconnected economic, mental health and drug crises. And though downtown has since seen some development, a looming sense of disarray and decline lingers. After the 6th Street Viaduct was triumphantly unveiled, its hype quickly gave way to unruly street takeovers and copper thieves wire-stripping its lighting. Even as the skyline expanded, Angelenos' attention fell on two skyscrapers that taggers had almost entirely covered in graffiti. Which is why this weekend's shocking act of vandalism that took out six of the city's mature trees felt all the more disheartening. 'This has struck a chord,' said Cassy Horton, a 37-year-old downtown resident. 'It just really like flies in the face of everything that we're trying to do [to revitalize] the community, and for somebody to go around ... and set back what little progress we already have ... was really, really upsetting and hurtful.' Along with safety, she said, green space has been one of the top concerns of the almost 100,000 people who live downtown, so the attack on some of the area's few trees particularly angered people. 'It's kind of an 'Enough is enough,'' said Horton, who serves on the board of directors of the Downtown Los Angeles Residents Assn., which advocates for more than 2,300 residents and community stakeholders. 'A lot of the issues that we face when we're talking about homelessness and mental health and open-air drug use and all of these things — they feel really thorny and complicated. ... But something like this, it's become a bit of a rallying cry for people downtown. We want to have a warm, welcoming, safe public realm.' Many of the downed trees were discovered Saturday morning, when images of the sawed trunks and their massive, felled branches lit up online message boards and went viral on social media. On Wednesday, the LAPD announced the arrest of Samuel Patrick Groft, 45, on suspicion of felony vandalism. Investigators say they linked the suspect to 13 downed trees in five locations across the city, and tips about additional trees continue to come. Groft was reportedly captured on surveillance footage using an electric chainsaw to cut down the trees on several different days, at several different times for more than a week. The earliest confirmed date was April 13. StreetsLA, the city bureau responsible for maintaining streets and the urban forest, said its teams confirmed a total of six trees vandalized downtown this past weekend: three ficus, two sycamore and one Chinese elm, according to a statement from bureau director Dan Halden. These large shade trees, many along South Grand Avenue, were severed at the base or cut several feet above the pavement. He didn't immediately respond to questions about trees that were cut in other parts of L.A. The StreetsLA team 'quickly responded and cleared the debris from all six locations,' Halden said. He said they were still evaluating the total cost of the damage and of potential replacements. For many, this blatant act of disrespect represents the latest failure by city officials to keep downtown from further deterioration, and underscores a gnawing feeling that the heart of Los Angeles has fallen by the wayside. 'It's indicative of the lack of regard,' said John Sischo, a longtime developer downtown. 'It's because no one is really caring. ... This stuff happens when there's not enough people.' Sischo said it's hard to get people and businesses to return to the area when there are real and perceived safety concerns that remain unaddressed. A turnaround requires addressing homelessness through an engaged and proactive government that works cooperatively with business and local leaders, he said. He hasn't seen that yet. In many ways, Paul Kaufman, a small business owner downtown, agrees. 'There are some areas of progress, but it seems very halting,' Kaufman said, who loves the area and believes it deserves better. 'Something seems really great and then it withers. .... The real thing to make downtown work and feel safer is to have more people there.' Downtown offices remain about one-third vacant, according to real estate brokerage CBRE, with the pandemic's effects still looming large. Crime rates in the area appear to be relatively stable over the last few months, according to available data from LAPD's Central Division, which covers all of downtown. (However, it's hard to comprehensively evaluate how much crime has changed over the last few years, as the LAPD recently overhauled how it records such statistics.) But there have been areas of progress and resilience: Apartments downtown have remained relatively full. New restaurants are opening, Metro's regional connector is up and running, and several new high-end retail and hotel spaces have debuted. Plus, plans to revitalize the L.A. Convention Center and gear up for the the 2028 Olympics promise a wave of investment in downtown. And perhaps that's why this violent assault on the community's trees 'really struck a nerve,' said Nick Griffin, the executive vice president of the DTLA Alliance, formerly the Downtown Center Improvement District. 'In the downtown L.A. community, we are working to bring downtown back and [are] particularly focused on improving the public realm — this just seemed like such a senseless attack on that,' Griffin said. 'It just seems so absurdly senseless.' But he and other area organizers are hopeful the concern about the trees — and what it means about the state of downtown living — could inspire renewed action, investment and hope. 'In some ways, one of the key things that we're focused on is building the community and coalitions that it takes to revitalize a place like downtown,' Griffin said. 'There's no one silver bullet and there's no one organization that can do it.' Ricardo Sebastián, an entrepreneur who lives and works downtown, has been trying to change the perception of the neighborhood through social media and marketing campaigns — but unfortunately, it feels like this incident could hurt those efforts. 'This actually perpetuates the stereotype that downtown is dirty, filthy, unsafe,' Sebastián said. 'We can paint and we can prime and we can build out storefronts and bring in really interesting businesses. ... But if we have people coming into town wielding chainsaws or defacing [buildings] .... we have to work that much harder.' For some, that's the plan. Horton and other board members from the residents group have called for immediate action from city officials, both to replace the trees and to hold the perpetrator to account — in an effort to help 'shift the anti-social, chaotic trajectory of our neighborhood,' the group wrote in a letter to city officials. The group said it looked forward to working with officials, notably Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents downtown, to ensure that 'the loss of these trees signals the beginning of the end of the ongoing corrosion of DTLA's public realm.' 'We need champions; we need folks in L.A. to care about downtown and to see it as the heart of our city,' Horton said. 'It's where we convene, it's where we protest, it's where we go out. ... We're starting to see some of our elected leaders step up and support us, but our challenges are acute.' In a public statement, Jurado's office said her team was in 'close communication' with the LAPD about its ongoing investigation, and that she had brought forward a motion that would increase penalties in the municipal code for tree injury violations, in hopes of deterring future incidents. The statement thanked the community for bringing the issue to officials' attention, saying 'this is exactly what co-governance in action looks like. Stay tuned for updates.' The office of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement calling the act 'beyond comprehension.' 'City public works crews are assessing the damage and we will be making plans to quickly replace these damaged trees,' Bass' spokesperson Zach Seidl said in a statement. 'Those responsible must be held accountable.' But some didn't see this incident as a sign of larger issues downtown, though there's a clear environmental loss with losing any tree: They provide shade, stormwater and pollution management and habitats for birds and other small animals. Urban trees have also been found to slow the deterioration of streets and reduce crime. 'It's a huge hit,' said Lee Coffee, who lives and works in downtown L.A., mostly lamenting the loss of shade. But he called the whole ordeal 'kind of random.' 'The cleanup was really fast,' Coffee said. 'I haven't noticed any other events like this.' Times staff writers Roger Vincent and Clara Harter contributed to this report.
