Caruso to Reopen Palisades Village Retail Early Next Year

A Los Angeles developer plans to turn the commercial real estate aphorism that “retail follows rooftops” on its head by opening his Palisades Village retail center before the erstwhile homeowners in its draw area rebuild from the recent wildfires.

Rick Caruso’s firm Caruso plans to reopen the center, at 15225 Palisades Village Lane, early next year, once streets in the area are cleared for regular traffic, KABC reported.

Rebuilding significant numbers of the homes lost to fire is expected to take years longer.

Caruso said data on the retail center indicates that 35 percent of the regular customers for its shops lost homes in the fire. He said the plan to reopen while that chunk of the customer base is still displaced is a bid to spur rebuilding by fostering a sense of community.

Caruso relied on private fire fighting services during the wildfire, and that’s believed to be a key reason it survived largely unscathed. The 125,000-square-foot center, with 42 shops set in the middle of the upscale enclave, has been closed since thousands of homes were destroyed in the disaster in January.

Caruso said he expects most of the tenants at the center to resume operations once it reopens.

Tancredi Deluca, who owns Angelini restaurant and bar at Palisades Village, told the outlet he plans to reopen at the center as soon as possible.

Caruso is a billionaire developer whose namesake firm is known for upscale retail projects like The Grove and Americana at Brand. He recently founded a nonprofit called Steadfast LA to aid in rebuilding efforts after the wildfires. He ran for mayor in 2022 and is a vocal critic of Mayor Karen Bass regarding her handling of the wildfire response and has expressed interest in running for office again in the future. Caruso’s philanthropic efforts include providing 100 free modular homes to wildfire victims.