Exclusive | LA Graffiti Tower developer has insidious plot to make insane cash before tackling eyesore: Insiders

Insiders say the developer behind the effort to buy the infamous Graffiti Towers could hatch an insidious plot to make a fortune off the project before its even finished — as critics fear the development will end up being a “skeleton with an LED belt.”

Developer Kali P. Chaudhuri’s true goal is apparently to switch on the giant digital billboard that wraps around the ugly structure’s base — a move that would net him tens of millions dollars before he even begins to tackle the mess above it, multiple sources, including top real estate and advertising executives, told The California Post.

The roughly 50,000 foot digital billboard is the crown jewel of Oceanwide Plaza, also known as the Graffiti Towers.

Sources familiar with the project told The Post that the LED billboard would be completed as part of the first phase of the project. Since the current purchase and sale agreement does not contractually obligate the buyer to a construction schedule or completion timeline, the desire to finish the plaza might be secondary to the billboard, according to commercial real estate execs who specialize in Downtown LA.

If switched on, it would reportedly be the largest in Los Angeles, capable of raking in tens of millions of dollars per year in ad revenue alone, according to an executive at a major outdoor advertising company.

The redevelopment project — expected to cost $1 billion to finish — was expected to clear a major milestone with a bankruptcy hearing recently, but that has been pushed back to July 20 as city officials refused to buy into the developer’s plan, which they said lacks details on how the mega-project would be financed and executed.

“KPC’s interest in the project is to complete it,” real estate litigation lawyer Eric Rowen told The Post. “While the LED board is an important component, so too is the completion of a five-star hotel and luxury residential units that will make the project the preeminent mixed-use residential development in downtown Los Angeles.”

But the $470 million rescue project remains in limbo.

In court filings, the city argued that the developer has yet to provide a sufficiently detailed roadmap showing how the massive undertaking would actually be completed. Officials reportedly met with the prospective buyer six times before arriving at the decision to delay the sale.

“The city does not seek to prevent a viable sale; it seeks one that can be successful,” officials said in court filings reviewed by the Los Angeles Business Journal.

The billion dollar project was launched in 2015 by Beijing-based Oceanwide Holdings, with plans for three high-rise towers opposite the Crypto.com arena featuring a hotel, luxury condos, restaurants, digital signage and retail.

But construction stalled in 2019 when the developer ran out of cash at just 60% of completion.

In late 2023, the abandoned skyscrapers were overtaken by vandals who tagged dozens of floors on all three buildings. The multicolored takeover went viral on social media, and turned into a global embarrassment for Los Angeles.

Its future had been uncertain until February, when Chaudhuri’s group, KPC Square, stepped in with a bid to buy the property out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

With Los Angeles now just two years away from hosting the 2028 Summer Olympics, pressure is mounting to finally determine whether the city’s most infamous unfinished skyscrapers will remain a national embarrassment, or shine as a gleaming Olympic-era showpiece.

Or it might just be one of the most lucrative billboards in America.

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