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Nineteen months after the Pacific Palisades wildfire destroyed more than 5,000 homes and uprooted the lives of tens of thousands of residents, locals and visitors to the affluent Los Angeles Westside neighborhood are marking one of the first positive milestones.
Palisades Village, the neighborhood’s 100,000-square-foot, walkable luxury retail and restaurant enclave featuring more than 40 curated boutiques, eateries and experiences, is celebrating its reopening on Aug. 15. Festivities will range from a ribbon-cutting ceremony to shopping experiences, tastings, family-friendly activities and entertainment.
“The way we reopen is a sign throughout the city that’s suffering in so many ways that we actually are resilient,” Rick Caruso said during an earlier tour of the property. “We’re on a mission to bring back this city.”
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A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire while it burns homes on Pacific Coast Highway amid a powerful windstorm on Jan. 8, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (Apu Gomes/Getty Images)
The billionaire businessman, who is the founder and former CEO of real estate company Caruso, is considered a leading civic figure in Los Angeles. He has served on several local government commissions and established Steadfast LA, a public-private, recovery-focused partnership in the wake of the fires.
Caruso reportedly spent more than $100 million of his own money on a failed mayoral campaign against Karen Bass in 2022 and has been an outspoken critic of how she has handled the wildfire and the running of the city since.
While the Palisades Fire burned for three and a half weeks in January 2025 before being contained, Palisades Village largely survived the disaster but remained closed for extensive $100 million smoke remediation and rebuilding. The surrounding downtown commercial corridor, however, was severely impacted, with numerous local businesses and structures reduced to ashes.
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Rick Caruso blasted the lack of water in the Palisades. (Getty Images)
“His complex was great, and I think it’s great that it’s reopening,” one well-known Hollywood music composer who lost his home in the tragic fire and preferred to remain anonymous told Fox News Digital. “That will definitely help to just get some momentum where people will feel hopeful and that we’re getting back to normal and progressing in the right direction.”
He noted the continued need for a grocery store in the immediate area. Both a Gelson’s and Ralphs Fresh Fare were obliterated in last year’s blaze.
“… Houses are starting to pop up. It would definitely be nice to see in the next 12 months anything from the little restaurant that was once there, the supermarket and one of the gas stations — those basic needs that a community needs would be nice,” he added.
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“Dr. Quinn” star Joe Lando lost his home during the Pacific Palisades Fire. (Getty Images)
For his part, Caruso has stressed the importance of taking every step possible to ensure the Palisades Village revamp was clean, safe and free of toxins.
“We took everything down to the studs and rebuilt it after having environmental engineers test it,” Caruso told the Hollywood Reporter.
Since 2018, Palisades Village has served as a see-and-be-seen hub for Hollywood types and locals.
Its reopening will feature both legacy and new businesses. For instance, the Netflix-run Bay Theatre will return, along with namesake fine jewelry company Jennifer Meyer Jewelry, which gained a massive celebrity following after actress Jennifer Aniston wore one of its signature pieces in the 2006 romantic comedy-drama “The Break-Up.”
A split-screen shows Café Vida in Pacific Palisades, which burned overnight. The wildfire in Pacific Palisades, which began on Wednesday, Jan. 7., quickly spread due to the Santa Ana winds in the Los Angeles area. (Michael Ho Wai Lee/Sipa via AP)
Approximately 60% of its original tenants will return, while others, such as Lululemon and Saint Laurent, will not. New business debuts include a New American grill run by award-winning chef and restaurateur Timothy Hollingsworth. The eatery will join Nancy Silverton’s new Italian chophouse, Spacca Tutto.
“This is one of many positive steps in this journey,” Traci Park, LA City Council member for the 11th District, told Fox News Digital. Park has worked closely with Caruso and his team and has been heavily involved in the recovery efforts in the Palisades.
“We have been really excited to celebrate the return of every school, every business, every new home breaking ground across the Palisades, but I would say this may be one of the biggest developments in terms of spurring overall recovery, but specifically local business economic recovery,” she said.
Jacqui Irwin, Assemblymember for District 42, who introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 2692 to help residents of a Palisades condo community who were in legal limbo after discovering that the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) governing their property had expired shortly before the fires, called the reopening an “important milestone.”
“This is about more than reopening stores and restaurants, it’s about restoring a place where neighbors can reconnect, families can gather, and a community can begin to feel whole again,” Irwin told Fox News Digital. “While there is still a great deal of work ahead, this reopening reflects the resilience and determination of the Palisades business community and offers a meaningful sign of healing, hope, and moving forward together.”
Corinne Verdery, CEO of Caruso, said, “Opening day will celebrate the resilience and shared determination that made this moment possible.”
She called it a “meaningful milestone” and “a celebration of all that lies ahead.”
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A distressed seal rests on shore at Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades as tiny bits of pulverized fire debris are washed up along the shore, in foreground, on Feb. 21, 2025. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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Beyond business aspirations and re-creating the high-end Palisades hub, the venture is deeply personal for Caruso. Both his daughter and son lost their homes in the blaze, while he and his wife lost a family home. The shopping center’s reopening, he said, is just one chapter in the Palisades’ comeback story.
