Rick Caruso

The owner of the Glendale Galleria shopping mall has agreed to pay a $48-million legal settlement to developer Rick Caruso, owner of the competing Americana at Brand shopping complex. The settlement ends an appeal by Galleria owner General Growth Properties of a 2007 court decision ordering the company to pay Caruso's firm $89 million for trying to prevent a restaurant chain from locating in the Americana.

When Rick Caruso first bought a triangular lot near the intersection of Burton Way and La Cienega and San Vincente boulevards nearly 15 years ago, he had yet to make his name as the baron of developments such as the Grove and Americana at Brand. The property has sat undeveloped ever since. But in the last few years, the area around it has been on an upswing -- buoyed in part by the success of Caruso's Grove project to the east. Shops and restaurants along 3rd Street have become regional draws.

The invitation arrived in a jewel box with a faux diamond garter around it, or maybe a faux diamond necklace. "A Return to Glamour," said the platinum, beaux-arts card. In the black velvet case was a sprinkle of artificial rose petals. Rick Caruso, who is remaking Southern California as a constellation of lifestyle centers anchored by Cheesecake Factories, was inviting me to a black tie affair on May 1 -- the grand opening celebration of the Americana at Brand in Glendale.

When the Glendale Galleria opened in 1976, the opening ceremonies were held in the mall at 9:30 a.m. on a Wednesday. The VIP list included civic and business leaders, as well as the 94-year-old fourth-generation descendant of the man who received the original land grant for San Rafael, now Glendale. Then there is mega-developer Rick Caruso.

The LOS ANGELES mayoral election is a year away, but Hollywood politicos are already coming out in force to raise funds for their favorite local politician, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. And maybe it's just in the nick of time. It turns out that shopping mall magnate and Republican moneyman Rick Caruso is considering running against the incumbent, which would turn the next citywide campaign into the best-dressed and perhaps most expensive mayoral race in history. In an interview this week, Caruso -- the man who brought you the Grove and the newly opened Americana at Brand in Glendale -- said: "I've been approached to run by a number of people.

Re "Reservations about a hotel," July 14 Your article misses a major defect in Rick Caruso's proposal to build a resort on the beach in Montecito: his refusal to remove an unsightly sea-wall structure on top of the public beach. Your story fails to mention that even if Caruso succeeds in trampling Santa Barbara's dysfunctional political culture, he still must comply with the California Coastal Act. How likely do you think it is that the California Coastal Commission will stick its proverbial head in the sand (or what's left of it)

Developer Rick Caruso's plan to build a huge shopping mall next to the Santa Anita racetrack hit a road bump this week, as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled that the project's environmental impact report must be revised before the plan can move forward. In a 59-page ruling, Judge James C.

Following a rebuke from the Montecito Planning Commission on Wednesday, mall developer Rick Caruso said he would consider selling 14 acres of beachfront property rather than conduct additional environmental studies on the site of his proposed luxury resort. "I just ask let me out, let me go. Let someone else take this on," Caruso said.

Whether next spring's Los Angeles mayoral race is a lively contest or a walkover for incumbent Antonio Villaraigosa may depend on the decision of one man: shopping mall magnate Rick Caruso. Having spent his summer flirting with the idea of running for mayor, Caruso has until the Nov. 8 filing deadline to commit to a campaign. The man who gave Los Angeles the upscale shopping mecca the Grove has been consulting with political advisors and is expected to announce a decision next week.

Developer Rick Caruso is best known for transforming Southern California's retail landscape with his splashy open-air shopping villages, such as the Promenade at Westlake Village and the Grove in Los Angeles' Fairfax district. But if his projects are sometimes criticized as facsimiles of city life, Caruso couldn't be prouder of the location of the one building that bears his name: skid row.