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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Rick Caruso and Elyse Walker Announce Plans for Palisades Village Reopening Following SoCal Fires
Five months after a devastating wildfire ripped through the tony beachside enclave, Los Angeles' Palisades neighborhood is on the road to revival. With construction on fire-damaged homes and now-empty lots springing up all around, the Palisades Village shopping center, owned by billionaire real estate mogul Rick Caruso, is laying the groundwork for a grand reopening targeted for mid-2026. More from Sourcing Journal Kearney: Shoppers Place Higher Premium on Value Than Values April Retail Sales Were Rocky, in Line With Tariff Turmoil Google Enriches Shopping Features With AI Upgrades The reimagined outdoor mall will welcome back many of its current and former tenants, and it will also feature new, yet-to-be-announced arrivals in the form of retail shops and dining, Caruso told reporters at a press conference Wednesday. While the Village itself skirted much physical damage, its storefronts have stood empty for weeks upon weeks, their windows darkened. Across the street, the burned-out remnants of a large building that once housed a bustling Starbucks casts a grim shadow. Driving into the area—which is heavily patrolled by police and blanketed by contractors on their way to building projects—still requires a city-issued pass. But Caruso is confident that the area will return to its former glory in due time. He plans to announce a new dining concept in the coming months, and bring back the Village's annual Christmas tree lighting and Menorah celebration over the holiday season. He's also committed to funding the revitalization of neighboring retail-filled streets, including sidewalks and landscaping. Shoppers—as well as tenants—will again flock to what has become the neighborhood's central commerce hub, Caruso believes. 'I'm very confident we're going to open up fully leased. There's a lot of interest, and most of the tenants that are here want to come back,' he told WWD. The village houses storefronts for brands like Reformation, A.L.C., Aesop, Sephora, Vince, Veronica Beard, Anine Bing, Alo Yoga and Paige, among others. Asked whether the Village would be offering special terms for prospective new businesses looking for a place to land, The Grove owner said, 'Just like we did in Covid, especially for smaller, independent businesses, it's all about supporting them to get reopened, being able to operate very properly. Absolutely, we're structuring deals.' The Caruso real estate group's CEO, Corinne Verdery, said some brands are still working with their insurance providers to chart a course forward. 'We're certainly going to work hard to bring them back,' she said, echoing Caruso's sentiments about working with tenants during the pandemic and its aftermath. 'We're very used to and accustomed to leaning in with each individual tenant to figure out how can we best support them.' With January's trauma still fresh in the minds of many, Verdery said the group is focused on rebuilding with an eye toward safety and resilience. 'We will continue to use our non-combustible, commercial-grade fire-retardant materials. We'll continue to underground all of our utilities,' she said, noting that those decisions likely saved the Village from incurring more damage, though some torched wooden decks will be replaced with different materials. 'We're using some of our learnings,' she said. Fashion industry stalwart Elyse Walker, who founded footwear brand Capretto and owns of a fleet of nationwide stores, joined Caruso on Wednesday to tout the commencement of rebuilding efforts within the neighborhood. Walker—whose 26-year-old eponymous Elysewalker flagship store was housed across the street and was damaged in the fires—plans to reopen within the Village, claiming its most visible corner lot on Sunset Boulevard. 'Today is the beginning of our rebuilding efforts, and I am proud to be here with Rick and his family and his team to renew our commitment to this wonderful community,' she told reporters. 'Our goal is to create jobs and enthusiasm. Reopening in the Palisades and moving our flagship across the street to the Palisades Village is incredibly exciting and important as we focus our efforts on supporting this strong and resilient town,' she added. Walker told WWD that when she opened her store in the Palisades a quarter century ago, the area was not known for retail. It was a choice she made with a practical objective: she wanted to be close to her kids' school. Over time, the location became a community gathering place, spurring other businesses to take root nearby. 'I truly believe what's good for one is good for all. If you look at car dealerships, they're all next to each other,' she said. 'Sometimes retailers are a little protective, but competition's good.' When Caruso revealed his plans to open the Palisades Village in 2018, Walker was all in. The stated objective—to support the town—resonated with her, and Towne by Elysewalker was born in the Village, across the street from her flagship. It featured a more laid-back selection of men's and women's merchandise, from clothing and shoes to accessories. 'We put couches in the middle. And the idea is, we just want people to come and hang out. We had a vintage car book, we had backgammon sets, and sometimes you would shop, but it was a more casual vibe.' The store was a hit, becoming one of the shopping center's signature staples. Before the fires, the 1,500-square-foot location was raking in $4,500 per square foot, she said. 'I used to keep those things quiet, and now I want to brag and blurt it out because I want people to understand how much business there is in the Palisades.' Following the fires and the closure of both stores, Walker scrambled to reroute many of her associates and stylists. 'We gathered them. I said, 'There's no four walls that will ever define me, and there's no four walls that will ever define the hard work you do, the relationships you build, the businesses you helped build—that did not go away. We will find you another four walls as soon as we can.'' The retailer set up a mini pop-up shop at its warehouse in Culver City. Some stylists now commute to other Elysewalker locations in Calabasas and Newport Beach. Some even fly up to the Napa Valley in Northern California, where Walker now resides and operates a storefront, to work for up to a month at a time. The boutique's brand partners also stepped up, offering flexible payment terms and offering to take back unsold merchandise, or shipping goods purchased for the Palisades stores to different locations—even the Elysewalker on Madison Avenue. Asked about her mindset throughout the past five months, Walker said, 'It's just basically rolling up your sleeves and dealing with the punches or the blows or the losses and being resourceful—maybe feeling badly for yourself for a little bit, but then rising to the occasion. And for me, this rise was very, very easy.' She credited her team for springing into action to help develop the contingency plans that will allow the Palisades businesses to live on, even during the coming months of reconstruction. 'This is our home. We helped build it, and I hope that today really serves as a day to give people the extra push and a vote of confidence,' she added. 'Everyone's going to come back. I just want them to come back sooner, quicker and faster, because the sooner we do that, the faster everyone can heal.'
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Palisades Village to reopen with iconic retailer Elyse Walker rebuilding flagship store
Elyse Walker made a bet in 1999: that residents of Pacific Palisades and Brentwood would rather shop for designer fashions in their neighborhood than drive to Beverly Hills. Her eponymous boutique, initially just 800 square feet, became the cornerstone of a retail empire that now stretches from Tribeca to Newport Beach, drawing celebrities like Jennifer Garner and Kate Hudson. It also propelled a renewal of downtown Palisades, with new restaurants and boutiques moving in. That all changed on Jan. 7, when the Palisades fire leveled Walker's flagship store and thousands of other homes and businesses. On Wednesday, Walker proudly announced her next bet on the neighborhood where she raised her two sons. In downtown Palisades, she and developer Rick Caruso revealed that Caruso's Palisades Village shopping center will reopen in mid-2026 and that her flagship store, elysewalker, will become its newest marquee tenant. 'I hope that this serves as the catalyst for other retailers and brands and big businesses and small businesses to come back to the Palisades, Malibu, Altadena and Pasadena,' Walker said in an interview. 'Twenty-five years ago, we planted seeds in this community, and now we are doing it again.' Caruso told The Times that later this year, he plans to resume the Palisades Village annual Christmas tree and Menorah lighting. He said he will also underwrite the cost of new landscaping and sidewalks in the streets around the shopping center. The goal, he said, is to create a visible anchor to a town in the midst of a massive recovery and to accelerate the return of a vibrant, bustling community. 'This is a really big deal,' Caruso said. 'When a retailer like Elyse opens a store in a community, that's a powerful voice of confidence that there's a bright future here. I really do believe with her and our organization, the rebirth of the Palisades is going to be unstoppable.' The news came during a frustrating and uncertain period as Palisades residents recover from the devastation of the wildfire and grapple with the mass displacement of their community. Thousands have relocated to disparate parts of Southern California or are scattered across the U.S. 'The fact that we have this hub in the middle of town is a ray of hope that we can get back sooner,' said Chris Feil, a Palisades native who moved six times after the fire before settling in a rental in Manhattan Beach. His wife, Mia Feil, said she gets emotional thinking of what was lost in the blaze. The couple is now in the early stages of rebuilding. 'We're all sort of traumatized by the loss of our community,' she said, listing the impromptu gathering at restaurants, Saturday baseball games, the annual Christmas tree lighting and the 4th of July parade. 'Having all those things back is truly the lifeline and joy in the neighborhood — that's what makes the Palisades so special. It's a small town in a big city.' Walker chose to open her shop on Antioch Street more than 25 years ago so that she could easily walk to her sons' school. 'We were between three churches, two coffee shops and five schools — it had nothing to do with co-tenancy yet,' Walker said. 'We just knew this was a place where people would be walking around.' Her shop drew well-heeled women from across the region, and she expanded the store's footprint six times, reaching nearly 6,500 square feet. Her store generated $5,000 per square foot in sales — among the highest in American multi-brand retail. She developed a team of private shoppers and stylists that visited clients in their homes for curated fashions. Along the way, Walker became an ambassador of sorts to would-be retailers and business owners in the Palisades, like Cafe Vida, Lemon Nails, and Caruso's Palisades Village, which opened in 2018 and brought a movie theater, Erewhon and Chanel. 'People who live in the Palisades don't want to leave. It's a magical place — they nestle into the mountains right by the ocean,' Walker said. On Jan. 7, Caruso relied on a fleet of private firefighters to prevent the flames from destroying Palisades Village and some nearby properties. But Walker's shop was reduced to rubble, the merchandise incinerated by the inferno. The store had about 30 employees, and Walker said she has been in 'sink or swim mode,' trying to keep her staff employed, serve local customers through her shops in Calabasas and Newport Beach and trudge through the arduous task of dealing with insurance. 'The first thing I said to my team: there's no four walls that can define me, and there's no four walls that define the magic,' she said. She recalled the couples who met in the store, the women who learned they were pregnant there, and the local resident whose three-year-old son had died and needed a dress for the funeral. 'So much happened in the dressing room of that store, and none of that is gone — those relationships and friendships and trust are still there,' Walker said. With Walker's shop opening inside Palisades Village in the spring or summer of 2026, and with new trees, streetscapes and upgraded sidewalks coming to the downtown, Caruso said he hopes the area will be a cradle of redevelopment and a beacon for those vacillating about rebuilding. 'Hopefully, that spurs other landlords to invest in their buildings and spurs other retailers to open up,' he said.
