Caruso CEO Corinne Verdery Is Just Getting Started

As if commercial real estate in Los Angeles wasn’t challenging enough.

Corinne Verdery may not have the name recognition of the chairman of the eponymous firm who hired her — Rick Caruso — but her imprint on Los Angeles is as unmistakable as it has been unpredictable.

At Beny Alagem’s Oasis West Realty, Verdery managed the unique entitlement process for the Beverly Hilton expansion and the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, ultimately securing a narrow ballot victory to crown the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards with one of the region’s most prominent luxury developments in generations.

Then, as NBCUniversal’s development chief, Verdery led an exhaustive community engagement campaign and oversaw the studio’s 25-year, multibillion-dollar expansion plan, which included the $1.6 billion so-called Evolution Plan that brought, among other things, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to Universal Studios Hollywood in 2016.

Verdery then joined Caruso in 2016 to manage acquisitions, design, construction and tenant services. She led the development of the ultra-luxury Rosewood Miramar Beach project, as well as the Palisades Village shopping mall in 2018, among other projects.

After Rick Caruso launched his high-profile campaign for Los Angeles mayor in 2022, he stepped down as CEO and tapped Verdery to take the reins. And, rather than rest on the Caruso brand’s laurels, Verdery immediately looked to expand the company, including across state lines.

Under her leadership, Caruso recorded its best financial results in 2024. Now in charge of the prominent private development firm — and its plan to add hundreds of residential units to some of its famous open-air centers — Verdery is steering the company forward as L.A. continues to grapple with post-pandemic challenges.

As part of that, Verdery is dealing with a challenge where no one wins. Greater L.A. suffered the most destructive fire event in its history earlier this year, and Palisades Village, a centerpiece of the region’s core, was destroyed. Verdery serves on Rick Caruso’s Steadfast LA, a private-sector coalition founded to help rebuild the community. (In that spirit, Caruso recently announced that Elyse Walker would return as anchor tenant of the Palisades Village, which is set to fully reopen next year.)

Verdery recently spoke with Commercial Observer about a career path no one could plan for, and steering and growing a brand once called “the Walt Disney of Retail.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Commercial Observer: Can you talk about starting at NBCUniversal and undertaking its 25-year plan, and how pivotal that was for you?

Corinne Verdery: I spent the majority of my career at Universal. I joined right out of college when it was MCA, run by Lew Wasserman. I did about 14 years there, then left for Alagem Capital Group to work on the Beverly Hilton and Waldorf Astoria development. 

I was with them for seven years, then returned to Universal for five years after Comcast bought NBCUniversal. That’s when I worked on the 25-year Evolution Plan. So I did two stints at Universal.

I’ve always worked at the intersection of real estate and guest experience. When I was at University of Southern California architecture school, I focused on how public spaces come together and how people engage with each other. I wasn’t into drawing window details or the structure of a building. So I was thrilled to get a job right out of college at Universal Studios and in the theme park business.

My first project was Jurassic Park. It wasn’t just a ride — it included retail and food and beverage, an entire themed land. To me, it was like planning a mini city. That’s where my love for one-of-a-kind, complex developments started. 

Since then, I’ve always sought out projects no one’s done before, legacy developments where people come together and create memories.

At Universal, and now at Caruso, I focus on projects we own and operate forever. It’s a different mindset: You’re building these projects to last a lifetime. You build for the long term and build relationships with the community and guests. You’re not chasing daily transactions — you’re thinking about how to create enduring connections.

Whether it was an office building or hotel in Tokyo, Nashville or London — or a data center, a soundstage, even a metro station on Lankershim Boulevard — I was all in, as long as it was something I hadn’t done before.

These projects and their challenges are unique from each other, and we haven’t talked about hotels and other projects overseas.

My time at Universal taught me how to lead large-scale, complex developments. I became a strong problem solver, particularly in securing entitlements others couldn’t. I learned how to build public-private partnerships.

The communities around Universal City are sophisticated. They’re focused on protecting their views and managing traffic in an area bordered by the 101, the Cahuenga Pass and expensive hillside homes. You’re trying to get millions of tourists in and out, while managing real estate that surrounds it.

The only way to navigate that is to become an incredible listener and problem solver. I’ve been in so many backyards and homes around Universal, understanding concerns — views, noise, light. At the same time, I worked across Universal’s many businesses — CityWalk, the studios, the theme park, offices, soundstages — all with different needs. You have to bring those together with the community to find real solutions.

You’d faced a unique challenge before in Beverly Hills, where you led the one-off ballot measure for the Waldorf Astoria. Can you talk about that experience?

That development was a big opportunity. The Beverly Hilton site at Wilshire and Santa Monica, which I call the corner of “Main and Main,” I knew it was going to be challenging. But Beverly Hills is tough. It’s a city where referendums are possible because of the small population. The community is highly engaged, knows every inch of the city, and fiercely protects its way of life.

Nothing is more important to them than traffic, and they are very protective of height — Beverly Hills is traditionally a four-story city. We were going after more than that. 

The difference was trust. The owner was going to operate the development long term, so the community knew we weren’t going anywhere. We made promises and delivered.

It was hard fought — I think we won by 129 votes out of more than 20,000 in 2008. That came from building trust, listening to concerns, mitigating issues, and designing something the community could be proud of.

Can you talk about how this ended up introducing you to Rick Caruso? Or how these projects led to you working with him?

I actually met Rick Caruso in the late `90s when I was at Universal. It was before The Grove [shopping and entertainment center], and before everyone knew who Rick Caruso was. He came in to meet with my boss to talk about buying land. Universal wasn’t selling, but we took the meeting. That’s when I knew I wanted to work for him someday. 

He was the only other developer I met who talked and led with the things that resonated with and were important to me. He spoke about guest experience. He spoke about deep connections and really understanding the communities that he was building in. 

I thought the only industries that cared about that were the entertainment industry, but I realized in that meeting that I could go out and become a developer and still stay true to the things that were important to me: the guest experience, the deep connections with the community, and building beautiful spaces where people came together and engaged and created memories. I just knew, in the late `90s, that someday I would work for him.

In 2004 or 2005, after The Grove opened, I reached out — he didn’t have anything local, and I was pregnant with twins, so travel didn’t work. He reached out again during the Waldorf project, but it wasn’t the right time.

Then, in 2016, he called again. I was thinking about what would come after Harry Potter and Universal City. The timing was finally right. Funny enough, when I started, I was working on the Montecito property he had been talking about 12 years earlier. It just shows how long it took that property to come to life.

Considering you started working on Rosewood Miramar in Montecito when you joined Caruso, was it your ability to handle unique projects that brought you and Caruso together?

Yes. When I joined in 2016, my mission was to lead two large projects: the Rosewood Miramar Beach Resort — Caruso’s first hotel — and to help kick off Palisades Village and entitlements for 333 La Cienega. 

Palisades Village became a focal point of the fires. That must’ve been incredibly challenging. Can you talk about how your role evolved in response?

The fires were devastating. Looking back, I felt fortunate to be at Caruso, with such deep ties to the Palisades. We’re at the intersection of real estate, community and government, and we were uniquely positioned to help.

We helped people navigate environmental cleanup, insurance, permitting. We knew the community, the streets, the City Council district. Everyone leaned in.

We’ve now turned a corner — from recovery to growth. In May, we announced Elyse Walker will stay and rebuild her flagship. Inside Caruso, we’re treating this like a brand-new development. We’re designing new experiences and planning a grand reopening next summer.

What started as tragedy became a rallying point. We’re here to help the community and rebuild something even stronger.

You’ve now been CEO for nearly three years. What was that transition like, especially as you began to look beyond Southern California?

It’s been a great transition. I do miss being deep in the details, but we have incredible executives, and it’s a privilege to lead them. Inside the company, they call me the “corporate curler.” Like the Olympic sport — I’m the one smoothing the ice so others can move farther, faster.

Some of Caruso’s projects are still powerhouses, but the market has changed. Has the company’s vision shifted?

We’re staying our course. Our brand is built on delivering experiences you can’t get elsewhere, and that’s our core. Foot traffic is up almost 10 percent this year. We’re on track to break records in net operating income and sales. In a volatile economy, trust and loyalty are everything. That’s where long-term relationships pay off.

Any new markets on the horizon?

We’re always exploring, though nothing I can share yet. What I brought from Universal is the importance of reinvestment. Like how they keep evolving with new lands like Nintendo.

We’ve brought that to Caruso. At the Commons at Calabasas, we’re adding apartments, retail, restaurants. At the Miramar, we’re adding employee housing and market-rate apartments. At the Lakes at Thousand Oaks, apartments too. 

I call it our “shine the apple” program. It deepens trust with communities we’ve served for decades. Shovels should be in the ground later this year or early next.

As someone who’s really shaped sections of L.A., what do you think the region needs to move forward?

It’s sad to see L.A. hit by crisis — fires, ICE raids, all of it. But I believe in leadership. I hope our mayor, City Council and state leaders can step up. We need to keep attracting the best and brightest. There are big issues — but, with the right leadership, they can be solved.

Greg Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com.