GLENDALE, CA-Developer Rick Caruso breaks ground today on the $264-million Americana at Brand project, a combination retail and multifamily development that was the subject of a bitter legal and political dispute with General Growth Properties. The Chicago-based REIT fought long and hard but in vain to block the project, which Caruso is developing on a 15.5-acre site adjacent to Glendale Galleria, which is owned by General Growth.
Caruso's development is slated for 475,000 sf of retail, 238 apartments and 100 condominiums on a site bounded by Brand Boulevard, Central Avenue and Colorado Street. It will feature a number of design elements found in other projects by Caruso, who favors attention to architectural detail, open space and plazas, along with an eclectic mix of shops and restaurants.
The Americana at Brand, which is Caruso's latest project since the Grove, his retail and entertainment center in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles, began with relatively clear sailing when the Glendale City Council approved the project in 2004. But General Growth pushed for a city-wide referendum in an effort to halt the Caruso development.
After voters approved the project, General Growth filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court challenging the development. After losing at both the Superior Court level and in appeals court, General Growth dropped the suit earlier this year.
Caruso's company, Caruso Affiliated Holdings, razed existing structures at the development site earlier this year as prep work in anticipation of today's groundbreaking.
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