By Alicia Clanton and John Gittelsohn | Bloomberg
Billionaire developer Rick Caruso said Los Angeles’ high costs and bureaucracy have stopped his real estate company from building in the very city it’s based in.
“I made that decision long before I ever ran for office,” Caruso said Thursday at a Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles, referring to his 2022 campaign for LA mayor. “What leadership needs to understand is money is going to travel in directions that has the less friction to it, less risk to it.”
Caruso, 66, has been positioning himself as a more effective leader than LA Mayor Karen Bass, who he says has mishandled the city’s issues with housing affordability, crime and January’s devastating wildfires. The developer has been weighing whether to run for California governor or to try again for LA mayor. In his appearance at Screentime, he continued to hint at a run and rail against Bass’ approach to city politics.
The developer blamed unpredictability and multiple layers of approval for the unwelcoming building environment in Los Angeles, and expressed frustration at current leaders for failing to address it.
Caruso said he’d consider serving in either office to have the opportunity to make changes to make Los Angeles “more livable, safer, cleaner, more cost effective.” He is likely to delay his candidacy announcement until after a Nov. 4 state election on redrawing Congressional district lines that Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, pushed after Texas approved a redistricting map that favors Republicans, a measure Caruso said he supports.
Addressing his feud with Bass over the response to January’s fires, Caruso lamented the results of an after-action report released Wednesday by the LA Fire Department. He criticized Bass for calling him “sad and bitter” in response to his feedback on her handling of the fires.
“You know how many hundreds of thousands of people are angry and sad after yesterday? They lost their jobs, lost their homes. 11 people died,” Caruso said. “And you read that report and you think you’re not going to be angry?”
Caruso stepped up criticism of Bass after the fires, arguing she left the city unprepared and failed to lead a speedy recovery. He saved his Palisades Village shopping center from the conflagration that destroyed surrounding areas by hiring private firefighters who trucked in water when a local reservoir ran dry and left hydrants without water pressure. The fire destroyed Caruso’s Malibu beach house and his daughter’s Pacific Palisades home.
In February, Caruso established Steadfast LA, a not-for-profit with a board of prominent executives in real estate, entertainment and finance. The group has pledged to raise millions of dollars to help with the rebuilding and offered policy ideas to cut red tape, such as using artificial intelligence to scan blueprints for building code compliance and speed up permitting.
Caruso built his $5.8 billion fortune developing a portfolio of luxury outdoor shopping centers, such as the Grove in Los Angeles, that are islands of cleanliness and safety in the big city. The Grove has the second highest sales per square foot of any retail center, according to Green Street, a real estate analytics firm.
Outside of work, Caruso has been an appointed civic activist and power broker, taking a leading role in resolving scandals and disputes since the 1980s. He served on the boards of the city’s powerful water and power commission, its civilian police commission and as chairman of the University of Southern California. He said if he does not run for or win office, he will stay involved in California politics.
“I loved public service, I think it’s the most honorable thing to do,” Caruso said. “If I get a chance to do it again, great. And if I don’t, that’s fine too. I’m always going to give back to the city, because this state and this city has given me everything.”
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