Progress on Oceanwide Plaza Property!
Positive news on the sale of Oceanwide Plaza in South Park has been reported by Roger Vincent, staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. After months of wrangling and arguments about the value of the bankrupt super development, the parties have evidently agreed to a listing price and have hired real estate brokers to sell the property. This is the first good news we’ve had since the project went dark and work was stopped in 2019.
Property broker Mark Tarczynski for Colliers and Hilco Real Estate told the Times he sees the property being attractive to a wide range of buyers. Because of the huge size of the project, he expects bids will be “coming from large institutional investors such as Blackstone, Inc., Black Rock, or cash-rich overseas sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East, Asia and Europe.”
Colliers and Hilco recently submitted an estimated “as-is” market value of nearly $434 million and an estimated cost to complete of $865 million. As envisioned by the original developer, Beijing-based Oceanwide Holdings, the three-tower complex was intended to house luxury condominiums and apartments, and a five-star hotel supported by upmarket stores and restaurants. After starting the project, Oceanwide ran into trouble due to a changing buyer base in China and the Chinese government decision to restrict the flow of outbound investment. In 2019 work stopped at the site and the project has been derelict ever since.
Tarczynski is enthusiastic that the project will soon be in new hands. “Every bit of the potential synergy between Crypto.com Arena, La Live and Oceanwide Plaza still exists. There is a huge demand for housing and also hotels. This remains an attractive project.” While there have been discussions that the project should be torn down and repurposed, he feels the likelihood of demolition is remote. “It’s about two-thirds of the way done, with about $1.2 billion already invested in it. Why would you tear down a perfectly good project? It’s unimaginable,” he said.
He expects to be submitting a purchaser’s package to qualified buyers early in June and call for offers by end of July. Tarczynski hopes to be in escrow by October.
By John Nilsson