THE MONEY: The Caruso family has a long history of successful business ventures, as Rick Caruso’s father made his riches through car dealerships and the founding of Dollar Rent-A-Car. The younger Caruso – Rick – amassed his fortune as a real estate developer. His eponymous company built several high-end shopping centers including The Grove in Los Angeles and The Americana at Brand in Glendale. Both centers, according to Forbes, are among the 15 largest in the U.S., in terms of sales per square foot.
PUBLIC SERVICE: Tried his hand at politics, running against Karen Bass for the office of Los Angeles Mayor in 2022. Spent $104M on the losing campaign, according to Politico. Widely believed to be eyeing either next race for governor or mayor. Founded Steadfast LA to aid low-income wildfire victims who lost their homes or won’t be able to rebuild their property due to high costs or a lack of insurance. Was able to save his 25K shopping center in the Palisades by hiring private firefighters. Caruso also served on task forces with the White House and the state of California on safely opening the economy, post COVID-19.
CARUSO, THE COMPANY: Caruso’s portfolio, in addition to The Americana and The Grove, includes The Commons at Calabasas, Encino Marketplace, The Lakes at Thousand Oaks, The Promenade at Westlake and Waterside at Marina del Rey.
OC INVESTMENTS: Bought a home on the Newport peninsula for $18.6M in 2021. He is often out on the water on his yacht, the Invictus.
PHILANTHROPY: Founded the Caruso Family Foundation in 1992 to assist at-risk children in need of education and healthcare support. Also gifted $50M to Pepperdine University School of Law and endowed the University of Southern California Caruso Department of Otolaryngology at the Keck School of Medicine.
QUOTABLE: In an interview with ABC7 News, defended his actions to protect his Palisades shopping center, calling it “the smart decision to do. We protected our property, and we also freed up LA fire resources to go protect other properties, so we were very much independent, and we were also loaning our equipment to the LA Fire Department, which was short equipment. We are very much a part of the community.”
