The Grove CEO Invests $1 Billion in Luxury Retail
Rick Caruso chose The Grove, the Italianate open-air shopping center he developed in Los Angeles’ Fairfax district, as the venue to announce his plans to build six new luxury retail shopping centers throughout California.
The real estate developer called a press conference on May 20 to lay out his vision for the Golden State.
Caruso’s company, Santa Monica, Calif.- based Caruso Affiliated, plans to invest $1 billion in developing the centers in what Caruso says is the largest single retail development in the nation. His bold plans included building 600,000 to 800,000 square feet of retail, dining, entertainment and housing behind the grandstands of historic Santa Anita Racetrack, in the Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia.
This shopping mall will be located across the street from The Santa Anita Fashion Park, owned by Westfield America Inc. Westfield also owns Shoppingtown Century City in West Los Angeles and Horton Plaza in San Diego.
Caruso stressed the Santa Anita shopping center would attract a high-income consumer. “It’s going to be on the luxury-brand side,” Caruso said. “The mall next to it is more middle market. We’re going to kick it a notch up.” Representatives from Westfield America did not return requests for comment by press time.
Construction for the Santa Anita Racetrack shopping center is projected to commence in 18 to 24 months but it still has some hurdles to overcome, said William R. Kelly, Arcadia’s city manager. It still has to go through the mandatory environmental review and public hearings.
Caruso’s other projects are in different stages of development. They include:
bull; Golden Gate Fields, 600,000 to 800,000 square feet of retail, entertainment and housing near a horseracing track in the San Francisco Bay Area town of Albany. Golden Gate Fields and Santa Anita Racetrack are both owned by Canada-based Magna Entertainment.
bull; The Americana at Brand, 475,000 square feet of retail, entertainment and housing in Glendale.
bull; The Playa Vista Town Center, 195,000 square feet of retail and apartments in Playa Vista.
bull; The Marina Waterside Center, 130,000 square feet of retail and entertainment in Marina del Rey.
bull; The Lakes at Thousand Oaks, 50,000 square feet of restaurants and retail in Thousand Oaks.
Caruso forecast these six projects would create 11,000 construction jobs, 8,000 permanent jobs and more than $80 million in new annual tax revenues. Revenues may increase for these malls, said Michael Niemira, chief economist for the New York City-based International Council of Shopping Centers, because luxury retailing is the safest financial bet developers can make.
“It’s a safer market to target than the lowto middle-income market, which is much more volatile in terms of business cycle impacts,” Niemira said. “You might be getting more stability in returns by going high end.” —Andrew Asch
