He’s the name behind some of Los Angeles’ biggest tourist attractions that happen to be malls, including Americana at Brand and The Grove. And yet, LA’s best-known developer hasn’t built a single property in Los Angeles in years — on purpose.
During an onstage appearance as part of Bloomberg’s Screentime conference in Hollywood last week, 2022 LA mayoral candidate and billionaire Rick Caruso made it clear that his namesake company, Caruso, has no plans of building in LA anytime soon, as reported by real estate news site the Real Deal.
“As a company that takes great pride in being L.A. based, we no longer build within the city of Los Angeles because of the unpredictability, the cost of doing it [and] the multiple layers of bureaucracy you have to go through for approvals,” Caruso said, according to the Real Deal. “And I made that decision long before I ever ran for office.”
He added, “What people need to understand, what leadership needs to understand, is money is going to travel in directions that have the less friction to it, the less risk to it. And L.A. is redlined now, because of the fires, because of the homeless problem, because of the crime problem. Find a crane in L.A. In 10 years, the lowest amount of housing is now.”
During his remarks last week, Caruso attributed 40% of housing costs to regulations. “That includes the permitting process, parking requirements for multifamily, energy efficiency and seismic standards and environmental impact reviews,” the Real Deal reported. “Since 2023, developers can also tack Measure ULA, a city-specific tax on all property transactions starting at $5.3 million, on the other end of the deal, often making an eventual sale more difficult or less profitable.”
Caruso, who also developed Palisades Village, which was famously spared from January’s devastating wildfires, has been vocally critical of the city and Mayor Karen Bass’ handling of the fires since January. During his approximately 20-minute appearance, Caruso addressed rumors swirling around whether he’ll run for mayor again, or potentially even throw his hat in the ring for governor of California.
“You know what I’m waiting for? I’m taking this very seriously,” he said at the conference. He then made it clear that his current priority is Steadfast LA, the nonprofit he launched in February that has brokered public-private partnerships aimed at speeding up post-fire rebuilding efforts in Altadena, Pacific Palisades and Malibu.
“I don’t want to be a candidate; I want to get this work done,” he said, according to the report. “I’ve got time to be a candidate.”