The long-promised Park Hyatt Los Angeles project looks pretty much toast.
Park Hyatt Downtown Los Angeles was announced a decade ago, across the street from L.A. Live, as part of ‘Oceanwide Plaza’. It was supposed to open in 2019. A 49-floor tower was supposed to include 184 rooms and 164 condos. Construction stopped and started at various times. The developer had financial issues.
I really haven’t thought much about the project since 2022 when One Mile at a Time said they needed to raise $2.3 billion and hoped to open in 2025 but asked, “Do you think the Park Hyatt Los Angeles will ever open?”
- Apparently $1.1 billion had been spent
- And another $1.2 billion was needed
Credit: Benjamin C.
Things got caught up in a U.S.-China trade war. China-Oceanwide was foreclosed on in June 2023. They owed $157 million to Chinese nationals who were using the project as a way to get Green Cards. The building was listed for sale, but removed from the market, and then re-listed again in May 2024. The property was appraised at $434 million, a $500 million offer got made, but that bidder apparently backed out. An expected auction sale never materialized as far as I can tell.
Hyatt still has a page for the hotel and it says ‘Coming Soon’. I do not think ‘soon’ means what they think it means.
Three well-known graffiti taggers broke into the project in December 2023 and spray painted their names. That acted as a magnet for other taggers. The L.A. City Council voted to bill the project $4 million for graffiti removal (though the graffiti hasn’t been removed). The graffiti is everywhere:
Credit: Benjamin C.
There’s a reasonable chance that if the project is ever sold the building could even be demolished and started over and the concept could change. There’s no reason to think at this point that if the property ever gets completed that it will be, in part, a Park Hyatt hotel.
Kalifornia Dreamin’?
Actually, To Live and Die in L.A
Downtown L.A. is almost a Ghost Town….sad!
The 3 well known graffiti taggers should be sentenced to death or $5million fine, their choice
It couldn’t happen to a nicer company…
Now that the Thompson is moving to Marriott the Hyatt scene in LA is pretty bleak. This is inexcusable for a major city.
Maybe cities should give conditional permits to build including as one condition completion of the project within a given amount of time otherwise the the entire project gets taken over by the city and even the the contractors lose any ability to sue for payment. Then the city could find a new company to complete the project. Unfinished projects are an eyesore, they attract undesirable people and they can be unsafe. Further, any projected revenues that the city would get are just a dream while the city has spent some money on the project. I remember seeing many unfinished buildings in Bangkok many years ago with most of them seemingly being abandoned.
Much the same can be said about California in general.
Sadly, this unfortunate situation seems like a metaphor for California. I see zero chance of this project being completed.
There are similar reasons why I absolutely refuse to set foot in the Las Vegas Fontainebleau, nor be anywhere near the potential collapse radius. And, speaking of Vegas, let’s not forget the Harmon Tower fiasco while we’re at it.
Lol- a lot of California haters in these comments. Looking at the facts, California had a GDP over $4T in 2024. If it was a country, it moved up in the world rankings last year from 5th to 4th, passing Japan. It’s GDP is 50% higher than Texas, and the GDP per capita is over $100K. It’s doing just fine, albeit with a uncompleted Chinese housing project in DTLA.
I popped over to take some pictures after a recent Laker game, but would recommend the NYT article on these towers from last year- some amazing drone shots! LA https://vp.nyt.com/video/2024/03/02/116082_1_03nat-la-towers-35833_wg_720p.mp4
You’d be surprised. They can wipe that ‘paint’ off, easily.
And this sort of thing doesn’t just happen in ‘woke’ coastal elite cities. No, it can be Miami, Dallas, Atlanta, anywhere. Development doesn’t always go according to plan, but the bones are still good. Get someone else in to finish it.
For those who have driven on I-4 in Orlando, Florida, you’ll recall the ‘I-4 Eyesore’ near Altamonte, an 18-story glass tower funded by a Christian TV station that began in 2001, and construction has been on-again, off-again, for decades, but is still not finished. Who knows, maybe they’ll get it done before the apocalypse. Bah!
Assuming that the structural inspectors involved are competent and honest. Which in the current day and age may stretch credulity a bit too far.
Plenty of unfinished eyesore buildings in backwater Red States. Just not as ambitious or impressive. Folks dream big in LA and sometimes things fall apart. In contrast, in low-rent tiny-dream towns, “They were gonna put in a Taco Bell, but they changed their mind and now kids have thrown rocks at the plate glass windows. Now it’s just an eyesore behind a chain link fence. I wonder If anyone will ever finish it and make it a McDonald’s!”
Wow, what a great metaphor and monument of failure for post-2020 California
How about the failed state called California taking the Park Hyatt Downtown building by eminent domain and turning it into the Nancy Pelosi and Gavin Newsom State Shelter for the Homeless?
The answer to this problem is right in this blog entry. Trump Administration discounts the new $5 million Golden Visas for Chinese investors who agree to Trump licensing and covering all metal surfaces with cheap gold plate. It’s not legal, sure! But as the Supreme Court says, if the President does it, it’s not illegal. (Poor Nixon was born too soon.) When the hotel inevitably goes bankrupt in the future (because…Trump), Kushner’s Saudi fund scoops it up for pennies on the dollar. Life in our new oligarchy. So much winning!
I was just in DTLA 5 minutes ago. It’s a dumpazoid. These towers are an excellent analogy for the city.
@ ADK — Would you stop posting her if they did that? I would vote for that.
@ Gary — This is sad. The IC LA is awesome. Good thing we have that gem. The nicest hotel rooms in ‘Merica.
It’d be interesting to see if the haters would make similar comments if this happened in some dump in the deep south. I’d guess not since those states lack the ambition to try such a project.
Since someone mentioned the InterContinental… Los Angeles does have plenty of high-end stays already. Hilton did a good job, too; the ‘new’ Conrad in downtown and the Waldorf in Beverly Hills are both excellent. While it would have been nice to also have this Park Hyatt, there are still decent options—with the Olympics coming up, I hope that’ll bring in some investors to finish this in-time. Probably no, but one can dream.
Disappointing To know once again that the commenters on this blog hate California as they are spending so much time on Fox News. Please stay away, if it’s that repugnant to you. I assume you hate NYC and SF and other world class cities too, and quite frankly we can do without you.
Those of us who love CA, LA, SF, NYC and a whole plethora of foreign cities and regions you also probably hate value your absence and encourage you to keep it up.
Meanwhile, given that the tower in question is a major development for Chinese moneyed interests and Hyatt is only the intended operator of a hotel enterprise in it, it’s hard to imagine that your imagined west coast boogiemen and dreaded liberal politicians are the cause of the project’s demise.
Couldnt happen to a better state. Funny part about this is for being a state that has so much they dont have crap that matters. California has to ask for money every year, they need water all the time, crime is the worst, power problems, But they need another big hotel.
I work across the street. I’ve watched it go from a hole in the ground to the 40-story tomb it is now. There hasn’t been a bolt tightened there since pre pandemic. It’s basically now a public art installation. They might as well leave the graffiti, it is kinda pretty in a way. Booming a decade ago, downtown LA is in deep decline. Right next door there is a mixed use complex that did get built and is operating with newer hotels and restaurants but this failed project has essentially ruined the “district” that was planned.
I once loved and dreamed of living in Los Angeles but no longer.
Covid and all else brought it down many notches.
I only visit a few times a year @ best now
If I were Hyatt I would open up in the Beverly Hills Century City or Santa Monica area
In particular I would grab the old Park Hyatt in century city and renovate from top to bottom
I loved that property and stayed many times as an InterContinental and a Hyatt
It closed in 2021 and never reopened.Unfortunately I believe someone bought it?
Downtown is depressing IMO
I’m afraid even a nice luxury hotel doesn’t want to make me return there
As unfortunately you are still in Downtown LA ! Ugh it’s just ok and some of the area is just creepy as it’s been for decades