ABC7 investigation: Why haven't downtown Los Angeles's graffiti-covered towers been cleaned up?
DOWNTOWN, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A pair of graffiti-covered skyscrapers have added a bit of unusual color to the downtown Los Angeles skyline.
Eyewitness News dug for some answers to see where progress stands on cleaning up the tagging and completing the buildings, located on Figueroa Street near 11th Street.
Many residents have called the unfinished residential and retail project a major eyesore, especially after taggers took it over. The name "Graffiti Towers" caught on shortly after, but it is formally known as Oceanwide Plaza.
"It looks pretty much abandoned and pretty much like garbage," said resident Nicca Templo.
In 2015, Beijing based developer Oceanwide Holdings broke ground on Oceanwide Plaza. In 2019, the company ran out of cash and stopped construction.
Last year, the L.A. City Council took action and gave the developer until Feb. 17, 2024 to start removing the graffiti or else the city would do it itself.
"In the event they don't do it, then we will do it for him and we will stick him for the bill," said then-District 14 Councilmember Kevin de Leon.
But the city never scrubbed any of the graffiti off either.
After estimating it would cost $1 million in taxpayer money to paint over all that tagging, L.A.'s Office of Community Beautification told 7 On Your Side Investigates:
"It was decided that the City should not incur the cost for abatement of graffiti on this privately-owned building."
After another year, some are starting to worry all the graffiti, all the razor wire and all the construction materials will be greeting millions of visitors. In just a few short years, L.A. will be hosting the World Cup, and then the Olympics.
"I think it is time for the city and the county and actually each tier of government to take a look at this, to be involved and figure out what their role is in ensuring that we don't continue to have this structure being the blighted eyesore that it is," said Nella McOster, president and CEO of Central City Association.
But for right now, the L.A. skyline will still be touched with all the tagging. Contractors and other creditors who are owed millions from this project pushed Oceanwide Holdings into bankruptcy court.
Ysabel Jurado now represents District 14 and says there's little the city can do.
When asked whether there is anything the city can legally do to get the buildings cleaned up, Jurado said it's a privately-owned property.
Oceanwide Plaza has been up for sale for nearly a year now. The broker tells Eyewitness News "there's a ton of interest" and negotiations are underway with "several parties."
He also said Oceanwide is looking into ways to remove the graffiti - however we could not confirm that with Oceanwide. The company returned none of our messages.
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated the graffiti has been on the skyscrapers for more than four years. This has since been corrected.
