Oceanwide Wants to Restart Massive Half-Built Development in LA
By Greg Cornfield September 6, 2022 4:50 pm
reprints
The massive multibillion-dollar Oceanwide Plaza development abruptly stopped rising in early 2019 just as it was becoming the newest mark on the skyline of Downtown Los Angeles. With tall cranes hanging motionless above the development for years, the project has become the subject of lawsuits and a source of unpaid debts.
Now, citing an interim results report from Oceanwide Holdings, Urbanize reported that the Beijing-based developer is rekindling fundraising efforts and now hopes to restart construction in 2023, and could complete work by 2025. That includes the 2 million-square-foot condo, hotel and apartment development taking up a full block adjacent to Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) and L.A. Live.
But there is the issue of money. The interim report details lenders and construction firms filing claims for failure to pay outstanding sums since the project stalled, and Oceanwide Holdings would need to raise another $2.3 billion to finish construction of Oceanwide Plaza after already spending $1.2 billion to get to where it was in 2019, Urbanize reported. There’s also the issue of financing with rising interest rates and construction costs.
But the company indicated in the report that it is in negotiations to complete construction and pay off all debts. The project calls for 504 condominiums, a 184-room Park Hyatt hotel, and 150,000 square feet of retail space on the block bounded by Figueroa, Flower, 11th and 12th streets, per Urbanize. The physical structures and curtain walls of the three main towers are the only elements of the project left to be completed.
Gregory Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com.
