Rick Caruso, founder of Caruso
Rick Caruso
Founder and CEO at Caruso
Rick Caruso is perhaps the wealthiest man on the Power L.A. list this year, and it’s widely speculated that he’s preparing to be a major contender in the 2022 mayoral race.
The real estate magnate grew up in Beverly Hills and founded his real estate company in 1987. He has built one of the nation’s largest privately held real estate companies and has an estimated net worth of $4.3 billion.
Caruso’s iconic 575,000-square-foot shopping center called The Grove welcomed about 20 million visitors each year before the pandemic, more than the Great Wall of China or Disneyland, according to Forbes. And it will surely be packed with shoppers and moviegoers this holiday season.
The Grove’s open-air town-square-style inspired other retail centers around the country, and led to The Wall Street Journal referring to Caruso as “the Walt Disney of retail,” and Forbes crowning him the “California Shopping Center King.”
Caruso has opened 10 retail centers including The Americana at Brand and The Commons at Calabasas. The Grove, The Americana and Palisades Village have consistently ranked among the 15 largest shopping centers in the country in sales per square foot.
Caruso has also advanced beyond the retail sector. The company is also in the luxury multifamily development game with the 242-unit Americana, the 87-apartment 8500 Burton and 100-unit Excelsior in Glendale. And in 2019, Caruso broke into the hospitality business with the 161-room Rosewood Miramar Beach hotel in Santa Barbara County.
Caruso also notably threw a lifeline to the movie theater industry when times were particularly bleak during the pandemic by strongly declaring his unwavering support for the movie-going industry and the theaters at his shopping centers.
“We believe in the future of this sector, the future of entertainment, and we will not submit to the pressures of this unrelenting year,” he said when Pacific Theatres permanently closed in April. “We will rise up and reimagine the future of moviegoing.” — G.C.
