A dog walks in front of a cluster of unfinished skyscrapers recently vandalized with graffiti and used for a dangerous social media stunt after developers ran out of money, Friday, February 16, 2024, in downtown Los Angeles. You can see local residents doing this. . AP Photo/Damien Dovarganes
City officials took the first steps Friday toward securing an unfinished high-rise complex in downtown Los Angeles that has been vandalized with graffiti and is in danger after the developer ran out of money. It was used as a social media stunt.
Officials began removing scaffolding protecting a makeshift walkway that authorities say is helping trespassers gain access to the property.
“They hid within the passageway area and were able to enter the tunnel by cutting holes in the fence,” said Police Sgt. Gordon Helper said.
The next step is to install better fencing for the project. Significant police resources have been committed to the project, and city leaders fear someone will die, especially after social media videos showed people parachuting from the tower. There is.
“We cannot allow anyone to get hurt here, get injured or even die,” Helper said. “We don’t want that to happen here.”
The towers were slated to include a hotel and luxury condominiums, but the project stalled in 2019 after the Beijing-based developer ran out of money, the Los Angeles Times reported. The “graffiti towers,” as they are known locally, are projects of China Oceanwide Holdings, a real estate developer that is in liquidation (or liquidation) in Hong Kong, according to a January filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. .
Oceanwide first announced the ambitious project in downtown Los Angeles in 2015, at a time when it was aggressively expanding in the U.S., but after President Donald Trump’s election in 2016, In response to this and Xi Jinping’s reaction to it, the policy environment of each country has changed significantly. Leveraged Chinese conglomerates. In San Francisco, for example, Oceanwide was a planned $1 billion development that would become the city’s second-tallest building, but shortly after construction broke in 2016, it was left unfinished, similar to Los Angeles’ Graffiti Tower. Ta.
The extent of the tagging and vandalism has begun to gain attention in recent weeks, with civilians in high-profile areas such as Crypto.com Arena and the Los Angeles Convention Center, home to major sports teams and events such as the Grammy Awards. It has become a disgrace. LA Live is a dining and event complex.
City Councilman Kevin de Leon, who represents the area, said a developer is needed to complete construction. He said at a recent council meeting that conservative estimates suggest the property would cost $500 million to purchase and $1.5 billion to complete. He also made a motion this week. financial times In it, he called Oceanwide Plaza the “black eye of a vibrant part” of downtown Los Angeles. He said it goes beyond graffiti and stunts. It’s like parachuting down like a thief stripping a building of copper wire.