LOS ANGELES | Oceanwide Plaza | 677' - 49 FLOORS | 2X - 530' - 40 FLOORS | ON HOLD

[Urbannizer]

Graffiti towers clean-up begins

Crews have started cleaning the notorious graffiti towers.

The new owners of the stalled Oceanwide project in downtown Los Angeles have agreed to start cleaning up the embarrassing splash of color on the city’s skyline even before they have finished formally acquiring it.

A Wednesday jaunt up a paint-besmirched skyscraper was a test to see how much graffiti could be removed in a day and the results were promising, said John Petty of KPC Development Co., which is set to take title of the stalled residential, hotel and retail project in a $517-million bankruptcy sale.

A condition of the sale set by the city was that the graffiti that has appalled and amused millions of passersby for more than two years would be removed immediately, even though the sale might not officially close for six months.

After the test run, Petty concluded that it will take less than 90 days to clean the three skyscrapers that stick out on the city skyline over Crypto.com Arena and the Harbor Freeway. Petty will put the winning bidder among competing graffiti removers to work within two weeks, he said.