Oceanwide Plaza

Oceanwide Plaza is a partially-completed residential and retail complex composed of three towers in downtown Los Angeles, California, across the street from Crypto.com Arena and the Los Angeles Convention Center.[2] Oceanwide Holdings is the owner and developer. 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. It will be home to the city's tallest residential tower, which commenced construction in 2015.[1]

Oceanwide Plaza
Oceanwide Plaza is located in Los Angeles
Oceanwide Plaza
Location within Los Angeles
Former namesOceanwide
General information
TypeRetail and residential
Location1101 Flower St.
Los Angeles, California
Coordinates34°02′33″N 118°15′55″W
Construction started2015
CompletedTBD
Cost$1 billion
OwnerOceanwide Holdings
ManagementOceanwide Holdings[1]
Height
Architectural206.4 m (677 ft)
Top floor206.4 m (677 ft)
Technical details
Floor count49
4 below ground
Floor area2 million sq ft
Lifts/elevators49
Design and construction
Architect(s)RTKL
DeveloperOceanwide Holdings[1]
Structural engineerEnglekirk Structural Engineers
Main contractorLendlease Group

The towers currently have no completion date. It is unknown when the complex will open as the development process is beset by corruption charges and financing problems related to ongoing geopolitical tensions between the US and China.[3] The scheduled opening date for 2020 has been postponed to an unknown date.[4][5]

Design

Oceanwide Plaza was designed by CallisonRTKL. Tower one will feature an 184-room five-star Park Hyatt hotel and 164 Park Hyatt serviced condo residences, a live-in hotel option. It will reach a total height of 675 ft, 49 floors. Towers two and three will have 504 residential condominiums.[4] They will reach a total of 530 ft; 40 floors in height. When completed, they will become the 11th and 21st tallest buildings in Los Angeles. The Park Hyatt project marks the luxury brand's first hotel and branded residences on the West Coast. That 49-story building will consist of an 184-room hotel topped by 164 serviced hotel residences. (The other 340 apartments will be housed in two 40-story towers, The Residences at Oceanwide Plaza.) [1]

The plaza is adjacent to Crypto.com Arena and L.A. Live near the Los Angeles Convention Center, project participants say the complex's design offers a departure from the standardized glass curtain and masonry architecture of the city's downtown. The developer, Beijing-based Oceanwide Holdings, enlisted CallisonRTKL as a consultant to design features such as the 700-ft. LED ribbon wrapping the perimeter of the building. Beyond that, the firm plans to create glass elevators with LED bands and landscaped retail paseos incorporating local plant life.[1]

A retail mall named The Collection at Oceanwide Plaza, is scheduled to open on the first three floors above ground with 153,000 square feet of retail space.[6] The mall will be open air and have deck views of L.A. Live.

The 9th floor will feature a two-acre private park. Features include private cantilevered deck pools, viewing platforms, a basketball court, a dog park, green space, and a running track.[7]

Celebrity fitness trainer and nutritionist Harley Pasternak has conceptualized the development's amenity spaces, including a two-acre sky park. Leisure offerings such as a fitness center, children's play area, basketball court, and two dog parks will also be on-site.[1]

History

The site was a vacant parking lot used by Crypto.com Arena patrons in the South Park neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles. The site is immediately west of the Metro Pico station.[8][9][10]

This development is part of a group of projects currently under construction on Figueroa, which allowed the addition of giant video advert screens facing Staples Center. Nearby projects include the Circa Towers and the Luxe Development. Oceanwide renderings also featured large ribbon-style video LED screens.[11][12]

The three luxury apartment towers were constructed in April 2018. In January 2019, interior construction on the project was put on hold. The developer cited restructuring of capital and indicated work on the plaza would resume "shortly".[13][14][5] Contractor Lendlease suspended work until late March 2019, when it was announced that construction had resumed after nine active liens had been filed by subcontractors totaling US$98.6 million.[15] Due to the three-month pause in work, the opening date was delayed to an unknown date.[16] Work once again stopped in late 2019. Media reported that the towers were stuck in limbo over unpaid work and pending lawsuits.[17] 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.[3] Completion of work was reported to be uncertain and all work was on hold as of 2019.[18]

In July 2018, the FBI served a search warrant on Google under money laundering and bribery statutes. The warrant asked for information contained in a gmail account belonging to Raymond Chan, the former head of the Los Angeles Dept. of Building and Safety. Chan had left that position in 2016 and had served for a year as a Los Angeles deputy mayor for economic development until June 2017. Also named in the search warrant were Councilman Jose Huizar; family members and other city hall aides; Councilman Curren Price; Deron Williams, chief of staff to Herb Wesson; and Joel Jacinto, a member of the city's board of public works. The warrant mentioned seeking records with information on "development projects in and around Los Angeles that relate to foreign investors." Oceanwide Holdings and other Chinese development companies were also found in the pages of the search warrant.[19][20]

After failing to pay its debts, the project was foreclosed on by China-Oceanside in June 2023 and listed for sale. No asking price information was released. China-Oceanwide owed $157 million to a group of EB-5 lenders and planned to repay them from the proceeds of the sale. Lendlease filed a claim in court that it should be first in line for payment in the foreclosure sale. Lendlease also filed with the California Court of Appeals to invalidate the EB-5 loans altogether, claiming fraud and misrepresentation. 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.[21][22]

See also

References
  1. "DTLA Mixed-Use Complex Tops Off". Boutiquedesign.com. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  2. Fly Through DTLA's Oceanwide Plaza Urbanize.LA
  3. "L.A.'s $1 Billion Trophy Tower Halted as China Pulls Back". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. October 30, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  4. Kilpatrick, Christine (March 26, 2018). "Massive High-Rise Project Finds Room to Grow in LA | 2018-03-26". ENR. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  5. "Construction restarting at Oceanwide Plaza as debt soars to $98.6M - Curbed LA". La.curbed.com. March 21, 2019. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  6. "Oceanwide Plaza". CallisonRTKL. March 6, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  7. "L.A. Condos Take Wellness to a New Level | Multifamily Executive Magazine | Condo Trends, Condominium, los Angeles-Long Beach, CA". Archived from the original on April 9, 2018. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  8. "Press". Oceanwide Plaza. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  9. Kim, Eddie. "Two-Tower Circa Project Tops Out | Development". ladowntownnews.com. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  10. "LA's Largest Mixed-Use Development Releases Never-Before-Seen Offerings | Unique Homes". Blog.uniquehomes.com. February 2, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  11. Pingel, Maile (August 23, 2018). "3 Development Projects Rising In Los Angeles - Luxe Interiors + Design". Luxedaily.luxesource.com. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  12. Hendrickson, V. L. "Towers that Wow: New Buildings in Los Angeles, Toronto and Dubai". www.mansionglobal.com.
  13. Vincent, Roger; Alpert Reyes, Emily; Zahniser, David (January 25, 2019). "Construction halts on $1-billion mixed-use complex in downtown L.A." The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  14. "Construction at massive Oceanwide Plaza in downtown L.A. remains stalled". Los Angeles Times. February 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  15. Sargent, Joe (March 26, 2019). "US$1 billion LA plaza work restarts". KHL. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  16. "After Financial Challenges, Construction For Oceanwide Plaza Restarts". Bisnow.
  17. Jones, Orion (September 16, 2021). "Lendlease to Exit Oceanwide's LA Megaproject". The Real Deal Los Angeles. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
  18. "L.A.'s $1 billion trophy tower halted as china pulls back". Bloomberg News. October 30, 2019. Retrieved October 31, 2019 – via Finance & Commerce.
  19. Denkmann, Libby. "Timeline: Follow The FBI's Sweeping LA City Hall Corruption Investigation Through The Years". LAist. Archived from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  20. "Search Warrant". United States District Court for the Central District of California. Retrieved July 10, 2020 – via documentcloud.org.
  21. https://www.costar.com/article/2030217368/los-angeles-skyscraper-unfinished-and-for-sale-draws-potential-buyers-—-and-new-ideas
  22. https://www.globest.com/2023/06/09/oceanwide-default-puts-2b-los-angeles-project-on-selling-block/?slreturn=20230725134502
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