Rick Caruso announced his aim to reopen Palisades Village — the luxury shopping and dining center that he saved from the Palisades fire’s path of destruction by hiring private firefighters — in early 2026.
The billionaire real estate developer shared the projected timeline in an interview with ABC7 this week.
The 25,000-square-foot shopping center and its 42 businesses — which include a Chanel, Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta — remained largely unscathed in the fire, suffering mostly from smoke damage. Many of the structures around it, meanwhile, were razed.
His early 2026 reopening timeline for Palisades Village is likely months, if not years, ahead of the recovery timeline for other Palisades businesses and homes that have been reduced to rubble. But he told the station he hopes getting the Village reopened as soon as is safe and reasonable will give the community a reason to return.
A total of 6,822 structures were destroyed in the Palisades fire, including more than 5,500 residences and 100 commercial businesses, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Caruso attributed the Village’s survival to the hard work of private firefighters, the water tenders they brought in and the fire-resistant materials used in the mall’s construction. The $200-million shopping and dining center opened in 2018.
However, he has faced criticism for using private firefighters to defend his mall and home by people concerned about the inequity these crews highlight and the possibility that they could pull water resources away from public firefighters.
Caruso defended his actions in his interview with ABC7 News, calling it “the smart decision to do.”
“We protected our property and we also freed up L.A. fire resources to go protect other properties, so we were very much independent and we were also loaning our equipment to the L.A. Fire Department which was short equipment,” he told the station. “We are very much a part of the community.”
State Assembly members have introduced a new bill to make public fire hydrants off limits to private fire crews in response to Caruso’s and other wealthy individuals recent use of private firefighters. Caruso, for his part, has said his crews did not use any city water.
Caruso, who ran for mayor in 2022, quickly emerged as a key public figure during the L.A. wildfires. The real estate mogul owns several shopping centers including the Grove, the Americana at Brand and the Commons at Calabasas. His estimated net worth is $5.8 billion, according to Forbes.
When the fires broke out on Jan. 7, he quickly lambasted Mayor Karen Bass for not being on the ground and accused the city of mismanaging water resources.
“There’s no water in the Palisades. There’s no water coming out of the fire hydrants. This is an absolute mismanagement by the city,” he told Fox11 news during the first night of the fire. “We’ve got a mayor that’s out of the country, and we’ve got a city that’s burning, and there’s no resources to put out the fire.”
In February, he announced the launch of a foundation called Steadfast LA dedicated to accelerating recovery from the Palisades and Eaton fires by cutting through red tape, leveraging private-sector expertise and promoting the use of fire-resistant building materials.
At the time, he said he was ready to put politics aside and work hand in hand with Bass to rebuild the city.
“I will gladly have her be the hero, because this is all about the thousands and thousands of people that are displaced,” he told The Times in February. “If we do a great job, which I think we’re going to — we’re going to work really hard — and it helps her do a good job, and she comes out as a great mayor of the city for moving this along, I’ll be thrilled.”
