Luxury Retail Reopens While Most Pacific Palisades Homeowners Wait on Permits
Rick Caruso’s Palisades Village shopping center reopens Saturday after a $100 million restoration, more than 18 months after wildfires destroyed more than 6,800 structures in the Los Angeles enclave. Caruso, who protected the luxury retail complex with private firefighters during the January 2025 blaze, funded the restoration himself. Fewer than one-third of owners of destroyed homes have received rebuilding permits in Pacific Palisades, and only 1% of houses have been completed. Burned lots are selling for roughly $2 million, primarily to wealthy buyers and developers.
The reopening marks a stark divide in the recovery. Caruso said he is disappointed in commercial neighbors, noting little reconstruction beyond his shopping center. No reopening dates have been set for the burned Ralphs and Gelson’s supermarkets, though both plan to return. Infrastructure remains incomplete: the Santa Ynez Reservoir will be offline until December, roads are damaged from construction traffic, and streetlights have not been replaced. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is beginning a six-year, $78 million plan to improve the water system.
The slow recovery has become a political liability for Mayor Karen Bass, who faces a November runoff against City Council member Nithya Raman. Bass has blamed insurers, lenders and the federal government for delays, while critics accuse her of failing to appoint a recovery overseer. Governor Gavin Newsom said the federal government has not delivered more than $15 billion in requested relief funds, while the White House said it has obligated nearly $2.6 billion and blamed Newsom for mismanagement. Together with the Eaton Fire in Altadena, the blazes killed 31 people and caused more than $40 billion in insured damages.
Many longtime residents are selling rather than rebuilding. About half of one resident’s weekly bocce group decided not to return, according to 86-year-old Mary Jo Stirling, who is rebuilding with a contractor that uses advanced construction technology. Real estate agent Dan Urbach said lots are selling at about one per day this year, with rebuilt homes expected to cost $4 million or more. Before the fire, average home prices in Pacific Palisades had reached $4 million. Caruso predicted the rebuilt community will lose some of its small-town character but become “probably the best community to live in in the United States.”
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