Add criminal tightrope walking to the list of problems besieging Oceanwide Plaza, the unfinished, bankrupt, vandalized, graffitied towers marring the skyline of downtown Los Angeles.

A 28-year-old performance artist from Ohio filmed himself May 12 teetering along a 1-inch- wide slackline strung between two of the derelict properties’ skyscrapers 40 stories above Figueroa Street.

“I wanted to create the greatest art piece Los Angeles has ever seen,” Benjamin Schneider, who goes by the name Reckless Ben on social media, told KNBC of the stunt staged some 500 feet off the ground. He breached a metal fence the city erected to discourage trespassing to get atop the building and boasted to the station that he left his slackline in place on the eyesore real estate development as “my addition to the building.”

It was the latest indignity for Oceanwide, once envisioned as a glamorous residential and hotel and retail complex in the hot South Park neighborhood but now a metaphor, in the eyes of some, of L.A.’s civic failures.

A Chinese company bought the block across from what was then Staples Center in 2014, but it ran out of money in 2019. With construction halted, the site became a seemingly irresistible canvas for graffiti artists, with their work visible each day to thousands of motorists on the 110 and 10 freeways along with the throngs of conventioneers and sports fans at what is now Crypto.com Arena.

As taggers claimed the exterior, stunt performers began using its three towers, including BASE jumpers who paraglided from the roof. Police also responded to reports of gunfire on the premises, and the building’s lower levels were repeatedly vandalized.

In attempt to get control of the situation, the city earmarked $3.8 million for graffiti removal and fences in February, and the LAPD started round-the-clock patrols. Thirty people have been arrested on the property since February, the LAPD told The Times on Saturday. As last week’s tightrope walk shows, the site remains penetrable.

Mark Tarczynski, a broker who is with the team trying to sell the property as part of bankruptcy proceedings, said the owners, Oceanwide Holdings, are paying for some private security to supplement the police. But, he said, the challenge is the size of the downtown complex: “It’s a million and a half square feet.”

Schneider told KTLA that he created a distraction by having companions hold up large signs that read “Jesus Saves.”

“The signs were blocking the police’s view and we all just hopped the fence,” he said. He said he wore a harness while making the under-three-minute journey between the towers and that he could see police and fire crews watching him from below.

“They were just watching from the bottom,“ he told KNBC.

Schneider did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Los Angeles police on the grounds of the unfinished Oceanwide Plaza complex, which in recent months has been the target of vandals and thrill seekers.

(OnScene/KTLA)

The LAPD “has been made aware of this incident and has initiated an investigation,” according to written answers to questions provided by a police spokesman. Detectives have not yet talked to Schneider, the department said adding, “It is a crime to trespass into the Oceanwide site, signs are clearly posted. It is not safe and it poses a risk to those trespassing, the general public and public safety officers, including our Fire Department in the event an emergency occurs.”

The unruliness at the site is not expected to affect its sale, Tarczynski said. An appraisal last month placed its value at $434 million, and a new owner who can afford the estimated cost of $865 million to finish the project is to be identified by the fall.

“Cleaning graffiti off the building is an easy task,” he said. “The big job is going to be completing it.”