It’s been 20 weeks since Los Angeles experienced the most catastrophic wildfire in its history.
Starting January 7, a series of wildfires burned through Southern California destroying more than 55,000 acres and 16,000 structures, and killing at least 29 people. According to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp, around 1,900 businesses within the fire zones were destroyed or damaged, adding to a total economic loss that may reach $53 billion when all is said and done.
Months into the rebuilding process, L.A.’s heavily-hit retail community has been patiently waiting to see how stakeholders proceed. On Wednesday, Rick Caruso, the longtime elected official turned real estate developer, held a news conference in the hard-hit Pacific Palisades to unveil the company’s plan.
“In the wake of that fire, [which] touched every corner of our city, I became a student of what it takes to bring back a city or a town or a community from a disaster,” Caruso said. “There [were] two things that really caught my attention. One is public-private partnerships, because the problems are too big for our government alone. … And the other is what I call the rebirth and reopening of common grounds, the common spaces where the community can come together, the churches, the schools, the synagogues, the parks.”
For Caruso’s team, this means investing private funding into the streets, lights, parks and other shared spaces that the community may use while construction continues, which is expected to cost the developer tens of millions, Caruso CEO Corinne Verdery told Glossy.
“Thankfully, because of the L.A. Fire [Department] and our own firefighters, we were not only able to save the Village, but we were also able to save the retail across the street,” Caruso said. “So we do have a very important section of downtown that we can bring back.”
Caruso hired private firefighters to protect the center during the outbreak of the Palisades fire, which brought criticism online.
Verdery told Glossy that feedback from the community for the decision to save the center has been positive. “The community members have told us time and time again that Palisades Village has been a beacon of hope, [based on] the fact that it’s still standing, we’re here today and all of the construction workers are here today to rebuild,” she told Glossy. “Our end goal is simple: to bring families back, small businesses jobs, spark economic revival and make Palisades stronger.”
Situated in the center of the Pacific Palisades, the 125,000-square-foot Palisades Village outdoor shopping center was built in 2018 for $200 million and currently anchors the downtown area with top retail, dining and entertainment.
Verdery told Glossy that the majority of previous tenants are returning, but much of that will be dependent on their insurance. ‘Everybody has expressed a strong desire to come back, and we’re hoping everybody does, but it’s still too early to tell,” she said. Verdery told Glossy that while the property was saved, water and smoke damage left much of the contents of the stores destroyed.
Similar to its sister properties The Grove and Americana, retail space in the Palisades Villages is coveted. When it closed on January 7, the center counted Estée Lauder Companies-owned Aerin, L’Oréal-owned Aesop and Puig-owned Byredo among its tenants. The center also houses Alo Yoga, Byredo, Diptyque and Lululemon, plus Bottega Veneta, Anine Bing, Golden Goose and Jennifer Meyer. The center has a movie theater, a sushi restaurant, a bakery, an ice cream shop and an Erewhon grocery store. It features more than 40 businesses.
The Caruso team will also use this opportunity to make updates to the center, with plans to make it a community gathering space again by December for Christmas and Hanukkah holiday events. The location is planned for total reopening by mid-2026, Caruso said on Wednesday.
The team also plans to revitalize other parts of the city destroyed by fire through Steadfast L.A., a non-profit launched by Caruso and his team earlier this year. This includes working with Disney to create a new downtown Alta Dena, renovation and rehabilitation projects in Malibu, and more.
Caruso and Verdery were joined by another retail heavyhitter on Wednesday: Elyse Walker, the owner of eponymous high-end retail chain.
“You kind of go into fight-or-flight mode at first,” Walker told Glossy about learning her Palisades Village store burned in January. “I didn’t care about the merchandise [we lost], because you can replace that. I thought about the people [who work for me] — that’s what I worried about — and I needed to give them confidence, especially since I didn’t know right away what we were going to do.”
As part of the press conference, Caruso execs unveiled a new location for the lost Elyse Walker store on Wednesday. A new, street-facing shop will house the new location. The space has been held by Saint Laurent and Amazon Books in the past. Walker’s lower-price concept, Towne by Elyse Walker, is also located within the center.
“No four walls will ever define me, and no four walls will ever define the magic [my team] made in that store,” she told Glossy. ‘We’ll rebuild the four walls and make it pretty, and I get to assure my team we’ll have a new work home soon.”
