Caruso’s Unveiling Wows Crowd

More than 700 residents packed Mercer Hall and Gilbert Hall at Palisades High School Thursday, Dec. 4 as developer Rick Caruso shared his vision for the future of Pacific Palisades.

Caruso’s plans for his 3.17-acre Palisades Village property include the rebirth of one of Pacific Palisades’ most iconic symbols – the Bay Theater.

“The most important thing we can do is celebrate the lifestyle of being in the Palisades,” Caruso told the standing-room-only crowd during the presentation, which drew the largest audience in Pali High history, according to the school’s director of operations David Riccardi.

Caruso’s presentation included a polished 10-minute video showcasing local residents, a nod to the area’s past and an animated “walk-through” of what the property will look like when it is completed.

The video highlighted many of the project features, such as a five-screen movie theater, a specialty grocer, a community room, a landscaped park and six second-floor apartment units.

When the video ended with an image saying “Welcome Home,” the audience applauded.

Audience members even cheered when the developer revealed that in order to achieve his vision, he would have to tear down all the existing buildings, a complete reversal of the assurances he made at a February community meeting when he said he would do nothing more than upgrade facades on Swarthmore Avenue.

The audience’s response to that news even surprised Caruso.

“We said we were going to tear everything down, and they cheered,” Caruso told the Post after the presentation.

Some in the audience appeared won over by the presentation. One audience member referred to Caruso as the “Steve Jobs of architecture” and another told him he “knocked it out of the park.”

But the new plans didn’t please everyone.

After his presentation, Caruso opened the floor, taking questions on subjects that were a bit more weighty than the return of ice cream or whether the Palisades will end up with a Trader Joe’s or a Whole Foods.

Pacific Palisades Design Review Board member Stuart Muller expressed excitement about the overall plans, but raised a few points of contention.

Muller said the proposed Bay Theater marquee is “too big and might spread light into the neighborhood and probably needs to be brought down in size by about one-third.”

Muller’s complaint serves as an indicator that Caruso’s project, which will require variances and zoning changes, could face obstacles with the DRB that could delay its completion.

Caruso’s Palisades Village project is scheduled to open in late 2017 before the holidays.

At several points during the presentation, Caruso said he would need Palisadians’ help in order to make that completion date.

He asked residents to show their support for the project by writing to Councilmember Mike Bonin’s office and attending meetings and hearings.

Other Palisadians expressed concerns about chain stores in the development, homeless people using the new Neighborhood Green, the area becoming a destination center for Greater LA and increased traffic and parking impacts. One Swarthmore business owner whose building is not part of the Caruso property questioned how her business could survive while the street was under construction.

Caruso had quick answers for all of these concerns – no chain stores, 24-hour security and zero tolerance for homeless people on the premises, parking and traffic studies showing the project will eventually lessen impacts on the neighborhood, and an informational campaign during construction to alert residents that the street is open for business, he said.

Caruso’s Palisades Village will include two levels of underground parking with 384 spaces and a plan to convert Swarthmore into a one-way street running toward Monument with more than 50 parking spaces.

Peter Hayden, vice president of engineering at Caruso Affiliated, said the project’s traffic plan is currently being reviewed by the city and that a hearing is scheduled for Jan. 16.

Hayden said Caruso Affiliated is currently evaluating the sizes of trucks to see if “we can reduce the amount of trips needed” during the environmental clean-up process.

“We have had our contractor come out and look at the site, but right now the plan is in flux,” Hayden said.

Caruso encouraged Palisadians to attend the traffic plan hearing and share their thoughts.

“You tell us how you want the trucks to go, and we’ll go that way,” Caruso told the audience. “We are flexible.”

Palisadian Sandy Mizrahi, a resident since 1973, expressed optimism about the project after seeing Caruso’s presentation.

“For the kids that grew up here it was utopia, and I’m hoping that will come back,” Mizrahi told the Post after the presentation.

Mizrahi said the most difficult aspect of the project in her opinion will be the construction itself, but people have to be patient and look to the future.

There will be trucks halting traffic and parents will have to be careful when picking their children up after school, but the result will be worth it, she said.