Graffiti-Covered Oceanwide Plaza’s Bankruptcy Settlement Clears Sale Plan

Oceanwide Plaza—the graffiti-covered development long seen as an eyesore in downtown Los Angeles—may have found a path out of bankruptcy after its creditor group reached a new settlement, according to a recent report by Bloomberg.

The Oceanwide Plaza creditors have agreed to terms that resolve their dispute with the developer, setting up a bankruptcy-exit deal designed to organize creditor conflicts and advance completion of the project. The agreement would move the roughly $1.2 billion mixed-use development into a sale process.

An anonymous investor is said to be in talks to buy the property.

Construction on Oceanwide Plaza stopped in 2019 after the project’s China-based parent, China Oceanwide, ran into financial trouble. The buildings were left unfinished, with exterior work not completed, and the site later became covered in graffiti left by trespassers. Oceanwide Holdings filed for bankruptcy protection in 2024, and the project had not secured a clear buyer in the period since. Companies involved said raising about $1.5 billion needed to finish the project and bring the residential and commercial space into normal operation would be difficult.

With the creditors and developer reaching an agreement, the legal disputes that had continued alongside the bankruptcy case would effectively come to a halt.

Oceanwide Holdings owes about $400 million to creditors. That total includes about $180 million owed to investors who provided funding through the EB-5 (a U.S. investor visa program) channel, about $175 million owed to contractors including Lendlease, and about $18 million in county tax debt.

Under the settlement, the lender LA Development Investment LP will have a $230 million claim recognized. Other creditors also hold additional claims worth several million dollars, according to the report.

BY HOONSIK WOO [woo.hoonsik@koreadaily.com]