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| oceanwide plaza, mary cummins, real estate appraiser, real estate, los angeles, california, flower, figueroa, oceanwide holdings, rtkl, construction, graffiti |
UPDATE 030624 Seems City Council had to make a motion to amend the city code to allow them to secure the property. https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2024/24-0114-S2_CA.pdf
022824 The city wants to restore the right of way on the sidewalks around the project. Right now it has fences, scaffolding, covers... They can't remove that without first securing the site with interior fencing and such. They need to change city code to be able to do that work. https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2024/24-0114-s2_misc_2-28-24.pdf
02/16/24 Result of hearing today. Motion was amended, approved by City Council as follows. It was sent to the Mayor to approve. The changes are the removal of transferring money to cover repairs item 2. City will now confer with other departments about costs and work to be done.
https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2024/24-0114-s1_misc_amend_kdl_blu_2-16-24.pdf
02/13/2024 There are now two separate LA City Council motions about the site. Hearing tomorrow 02/16/2024. I drove by and none of the graffiti has been cleaned. Leave it to say it will not be cleaned up by 02/17/2024 per the 01/31/2024 City Council Motion and order.
My estimates for cost to clean and secure Oceanwide Plaza were way too low. City will be transferring $1,100,000 to secure the site then $2,700,000 to remove graffiti and provide security.
From the motion,
On February 9, 2024, the Los Angeles City Council adopted a motion (Council File No. 24-0114) to instruct the relevant City Departments to take the necessary steps to prepare for abatement of the Oceanwide Plaza property in the event the owners of Oceanwide Plaza failed to heed the abatement order issued by the Department of Building and Safety on January 31, 2024. The motion directed the City Administrative Officer to identify front funding sources to pay for this work and the CAO has done so. Now, the City of Los Angeles must transfer this funding to pay for the work needed to abate the property so abatement may commence on February 17, 2024 if the Oceanwide owners indeed fail to comply by the deadline.
MOTION PLANNING & LAND USE MANAGEMENT
"I THEREFORE MOVE, subject to the approval of the Mayor, that $1,100,000 be transferred / appropriated from the Building and Safety Fund 100/08, Account No. 001010, (Salaries, General) to the Repair and Demolition Fund No. 346/08, Account No. 08108Y to fund fencing and secure the ground floors to comply with department orders at Oceanwide Plaza.
I FURTHER MOVE, subject to the approval of the Mayor, that $2,700,000 be transferred / appropriated from the Building and Safety Permit Enterprise Fund No. 48R/08, Account 08Y204 (Reserve for Future Cost) to the Repair and Demolition Fund No. 346, Account Name Oceanwide Plaza (Account No. TBD), as a loan, to fund security services, fire safety upgrades, graffiti abatement, and any other measures needed to comply with department orders at Oceanwide Plaza."
https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2024/24-0114-S1_misc_02-13-24.pdf
Just FYI I've lived in Los Angeles my entire life. I've been a broker, appraiser in LA over 40 years. I appraise this exact type of project. I've been in most of them. I lived in South Park for years.
02/12/2024 Arrests made by LAPD in graffiti of Oceanwide Plaza. Originally there were two arrests then four more. They just arrested 12 more.
https://lamag.com/crimeinla/lapd-arrests-dtla-high-rise-graffiti
DeLeon stated the graffiti was the "fault" of the developer because they didn't have the place locked up tight with security. What about the trespassers, vandals? Don't they have any culpability? What about the rest of LA that gets tagged? Should we all be forced to add huge expensive walls, gates and security teams to protect our property or else it's our fault? Ridiculous argument. While everyone should lock up their property and protect it, there's no way to fully protect against taggers.
02/09/2024 Item was adopted by City Council to force Oceanwide Plaza to clean up the mess. Vote was unanimous but Soto-Martinez was absent.
02/16/2024 I was in the area and took some pics. The trespassers, vandals, taggers also tagged the inside of the building. There is a fence company there today along with lots of police presence. Click thumbnails below to see larger.
02/07/2024 More taggers have tagged the building. One article stated "After a similar project in December for Art Basel in Miami Beach, artists were inspired “to do an L.A. version,” the artist Merch told Hyperallergic." The building they graffiti'd in Miami Vitas Healthcare Center was an abandoned, 19-story building which was about to be demolished. It wasn't a new luxury building like Oceanwide Plaza. They didn't have permission to trespass or tag either building. It's like tagging a car at a junkyard destined for scrap metal versus a new Rolls Royce that's about to roll off the assembly line.
"The artists also placed blame on the developers, Oceanwide Holdings of China, who stopped construction on the project in 2019 when they ran out of funding and have since been accused of not paying the security guards for the site." Their rationalization is sickening and infantile. Does that mean people can break into the taggers, their mothers, grandmothers homes and destroy it because they don't have security guards? Can the taggers legally kill and rape people on the street because they don't have security guards? Blame the victim. A crime is a crime.
Taggers with graffiti gang tag signatures Merch, Akers and Hopes have commented about their vandalism. These people are all known. You can search the tags on the buildings and know the taggers. I searched the graffiti tags in my area and knew exactly who did it. They have names, photos, addresses.
Merch stated “With all due respect, s— is abandoned, doing nothing." "Let’s put some color on this b— and do what we do if they ain’t gon finish the job,” the artist Hopes said. “This building has needed love for years,” artist Aker added. “If the owners aren’t doing anything about it, the streets of LA are happy to make something out of it.” These people call their tagging "putting in work" like it's a noble job or something. It's not.
Another thing to consider is the cost and waste of all that spray paint and the cans. It's bad for the environment and human health besides a total waste. The paint is still there so it's not water based eco-friendly. It's not guerrilla art which washes away and causes no permanent harm. These people are criminal vandals. I wish they'd charge some of them. These people even post videos of themselves doing these criminal acts on their Insta, TikTok and Facebook pages. They comment on newspaper articles. Throw them in jail and fine them for cleanup. When they're released make them do graffiti cleanup for a few years. They are not artists.
02/02/2024: LA City Council made a motion to force Oceanwide to clean up the project by February 17, 2024. 1101 South Flower Street / Oceanwide Plaza / Trespassing / Vandalism / Nuisance Abatement
https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2024/24-0114_misc_02-02-24.pdf
Main file https://cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkconnect/index.cfm?fa=ccfi.viewrecord&cfnumber=24-0114
MOTION
FEB 0 2 2024
For the last few years, the unfinished Oceanwide Plaza property at 1101 South Flower Street has been a blight on Downtown Los Angeles’ South Park neighborhood. Started in 2015, the project’s construction was abruptly halted in late 2019 after funding for the project was cut off. Since then Oceanwide Plaza has sat half-finished and abandoned - a black eye on an otherwise vibrant part of DTLA.
Oceanwide Plaza has experienced trespassing and vandalism over the last few years however criminal activity has increased exponentially over the last month, peaking over the last several days. Neighbors report trucks ramming into the gates and driving into the building to facilitate copper wire theft and vandalism. Dozens of videos posted to social media show people breaking into the property on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, climbing hundreds of feet up the unfinished towers, and tagging the windows on at least 30 of the building’s 53 floors with graffiti. It is abundantly clear that Oceanwide Plaza has become a hazard to surrounding residents, businesses, passersby, and to the criminals recklessly breaking into the property and it must be dealt with immediately.
I FURTHER MOVE to instruct the Department of Building and Safety (DBS), the Bureau of Street Services (BSS), and the Bureau of Engineering (BOE) to order the permittee to secure the site, remove all encroachments from the public right of way, and restore the public right of way to its original condition or const..."I FURTHER MOVE to instruct the DBS and BOE, in coordination with the City Attorney, to recover all city costs consistent with applicable law. In light of the property becoming a nuisance, the Department of Building and Safety issued an abatement notice to the owners of Oceanwide Plaza on January 31, 2024. The property owners have until February 17, 2024 to remove all graffiti and debris and securely fence the property or the City will begin its own abatement process.
I FURTHER MOVE to instruct the City Administrative Officer to identify front-funding for the securing of the site, removal of obstructions, and restoration of the public right of way should the permittee fail to comply with department orders.
I FURTHER MOVE to instruct the DBS, BSS, Department of Transportation, and General Services Department to secure the site and restore the public right of way to its prior condition should the permittee fail to act within the time allotted to them by law."
See link above because the copy/paste wasn't working that well. Motion made by Paul Krekorian and Kevin DeLeon.
Some people have said that the graffiti "artists" added "meaning, art, a message to the vacant building contributing to the city in a positive way." I don't agree at all. They trespassed, vandalized and did tens of thousands in damage to the property. They rammed trucks through the gates and broke down doors. They stole property. The developer now has to clean up all their mess by February 17, 2024 in two weeks or face a huge fine and cleanup fees. Look at what the people did. It's not graffiti art but tagging. They just wrote their graffiti gang tag initials in big letters. That's not art. Tagging isn't art. It's like a dog pissing on a tree except worse because it serves no purpose at all. It's a kid defacing a public school desk by carving their initials in it. If you think it's art, post your family's home address so people can go ram their truck through their fence and paint their initials and gross shit all over the interior and exterior of their home and all their possessions. Below are up close images in case people couldn't see what they did. It's only tagging.
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ORIGINAL: January 30, 2024 an organized group of graffiti taggers vandalized the now vacant construction site of Oceanwide Plaza at 1101 Flower St in Los Angeles, California. It was a partially-completed residential and retail complex composed of three residential towers across the street from Crypto.com Arena and the Los Angeles Convention Center. The owner developer is Oceanwide Holdings. "The CallisonRTKL-designed complex will feature a five-star Park Hyatt hotel with interiors by Studio Munge, 504 residences and a collection of retailers and restaurants."
The site was originally an auto store in 1924 which was eventually replaced with a parking lot. Construction began in 2015 for the main development. The three towers were built starting in 2018 but not finished. Construction stalled in 2019 but restarted months later. Construction stalled again in October 2020 due to financial restructuring. "The towers were an example of Chinese reductions in capital and investing in US real estate because of the country's ongoing trade dispute with the US and a Beijing crackdown on credit and capital flight."
After failing to pay its debts, the project was foreclosed on by China-Oceanside in June 2023 and listed for sale. In filings with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, China-Oceanwide said that more than $1.2 billion was needed to finish the project and that they had already spent $1.1 billion." It would take two years to finish the project. The project was also involved in a bribery scandal involving local politicians and the LA City Building and Safety department.
Basic property information
Address: 1101 S Flower St, Los Angeles, California 90015
Assessor Parcel Number APN 5138-015-045
Lot dimensions, irregular: 316' x 535' x 342' x 703'
Area: 199,803 sf
Owner: Oceanwide Plaza LLC
Legal description: TR=69414 EX OF ST LOT 1
Census tract: 2079.01
Current liens on real estate records only: 05/18/2023 pre forclosure by Oceanwide Plaza LLC,
Lots of mechanic liens. Property taxes delinquent and due.
All of the permits are at ladbs.org under 1101 S Flower.
Property taxes https://portal.assessor.lacounty.gov/parceldetail/5138015045
There have been lawsuits involving the project. Oceanwide hired Lendlease as a contractor to build the project. Lendlease hired Webcor as a concrete subcontractor. Neither were fully paid. There were arbitration agreements in the contracts. Webcor didn't want to honor the arbitration agreement and sued. Trial and appeals court ruled Webcor is subject to arbitration agreement with Lendlease. This stems from a mechanics lien filed 2018 and lawsuit filed 2019.
https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/nonpub/B299310.PDF
Lendlease sued in order to have a higher claim than the visa holder investors.
More legal documents at lacourt.org You have to pay for them and I don't want to pay.
The official website is gone but here's a webarchive version.
http://web.archive.org/web/20200621165019/https://oceanwideplaza.com/
The company behind the project from the archive
http://web.archive.org/web/20190305105332/https://en.chinaoceanwide.com/
Video of the main areas of the project. Reminds me of Metropolis but bigger and nicer and Metropolis is huge and luxury quality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omOXWBc9w1c
Contractor made a video of progress on the building
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGKIuAkaXV4
RTKL site about project
https://www.callisonrtkl.com/projects/oceanwide-plaza/
Below are some marketing photos, plot plan, parcels... I was really looking forward to this development and have written five posts/articles since 2017. Chinese developers have built some beautiful and amazing projects in downtown Los Angeles. I've appraised a few and they are very high quality luxury properties. I really hope they get this back on track. I absolutely disagree with people who think it should be torn down. That would be an incredible waste of materials and manpower. Maybe they should re imagine some of the retail area and make it creative or experience space.
oceanwide__real__estate__group.jpg "oceanwide plaza, mary cummins, real estate appraiser, real estate, los angeles, california, flower, figueroa, oceanwide holdings, rtkl, construction, graffiti") |
| oceanwide plaza, mary cummins, real estate appraiser, real estate, los angeles, california, flower, figueroa, oceanwide holdings, rtkl, construction, graffiti |
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| oceanwide plaza, mary cummins, real estate appraiser, real estate, los angeles, california, flower, figueroa, oceanwide holdings, rtkl, construction, graffiti |
Below are ladbs.org plot plans and permit sheets for the first permit in 2015 and the last in 2019 in chronological order. Click to see bigger. Originals at ladbs.org under address 1101 S Flower St. The permits list owner, builder, engineer, architect...besides specs.
2015 permit
Building and safety reports complaints. They're only recent. Amazed there are no previous ones.
1/31/2024 ABANDONED OR VACANT BUILDING LEFT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC UNDER INVESTIGATION
1/31/2024 ABANDONED OR VACANT BUILDING LEFT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC CLOSED
1/31/2024 GRAFFITI ON THE BUILDING, FENCES OR WALLS CLOSED
1/31/2024 ABANDONED OR VACANT BUILDING LEFT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC CLOSED
Other addresses associated with the project. 1133, 1155, 1130 Flower and 600 W 11th, 1130 Figueroa.
Some of the Park Hyatt penthouse units will be larger. "The condo options include everything from one- to four-bedrooms units, plus additional choices for luxury penthouses and estate-style residences that range from 5,585 to 8,775 square feet in size and come with private outdoor space. An additional 340 residences, not under the Park Hyatt brand, are planned for the remaining two towers."
"Oceanwide is a privately held, family owned international financial holding group founded by LU Zhiqiang. Headquartered in Beijing, China, Oceanwide’s well-established and diversified businesses include operations in financial services, energy, technology information services, culture and media, and real estate assets globally, including in the United States.
Oceanwide is the controlling shareholder of the Shenzhen-listed Oceanwide Holdings Co., Ltd. and Minsheng Holdings Co. Ltd.; the Hong Kong-listed China Oceanwide Holdings Limited and China Tonghai International Financial Limited (formerly known as Quam Limited); the privately-held International Data Group, Minsheng Securities, Minsheng Trust, and Asia Pacific Property & Casualty Insurance; and it is the single largest shareholder of Australia-listed CuDECO Ltd. China Oceanwide also is a minority investor in Shanghai-listed China Minsheng Bank and Hong Kong-listed Legend Holdings. In the United States, Oceanwide has real estate investments in New York, California, and Hawaii. Businesses controlled by Oceanwide have more than 10,000 employees globally."
LA City has contracts with the project to guarantee it.
http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2016/16-0408-S1_misc_1_10-05-2016.pdf
Mary Cummins of Cummins Real Estate is a certified residential licensed appraiser in Los Angeles, California. Mary Cummins is licensed by the California Bureau of Real Estate appraisers and has over 35 years of experience.
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