Those who opposed the Shops at Santa Anita should be thrilled now that Caruso Affiliated has finally thrown in the towel on the project.
by Scott Hettrick
After more than five years of battling unrelenting public and legal challenges by Westfield and Westfield’s citizen advocacy group Arcadia First!, followed by the legendary intractable negotiating tactics of Santa Anita owner Frank Stronach, Rick Caruso finally decided this week that he has had enough, and will regretfully move on to his myriad other projects and political ambitions.
So here the rest of we Arcadians stand with our mouths hanging open in disbelief that such an incredible and perhaps once-in-a-generation opportunity got away. Somehow many of us thought that if we just waited long enough and let the thing play out in courts and through negotiations of business titans, it would eventually get built — the only question for some was whether it would happen while they were still alive or able to enjoy it. But, alas, it basically came down to the top brass at Westfield, the top dog at Santa Anita, and Caruso being unable or unwilling to reach a deal that would have kept the project alive.
I supposed it’s possible that Caruso’s withdraw from negotiations with Stronach and his pronouncement that the project “is dead” is simply a strategic negotiating ploy, but I doubt it. His representative Rick Lemmo resigned this weekend from the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce, where he had attended board meetings for six years and until as recently as a couple months ago. Caruso has too many other things to focus on now, including a possible run for Mayor of Los Angeles, as well as other development projects in areas where his top-quality work is appreciated and desired.
Congratulations to the victors in this process. Perhaps those who are now throwing a party over the death of the Shops at Santa Anita can help the rest of us understand why they are so happy that Arcadia will not have $2 million – $3 million in annual revenue that the Shops would have generated. I assume they will be happy to vote in the future for an increase in their taxes to pay for ever-growing city expenses with no commensurate major new sources of income, or be content to see a reduction in services. Perhaps they can explain why it’s a benefit not to have a large employer here in town, or a dynamic and visually appealing center with a huge water feature designed to encourage walking and visiting with others. Surely those people and Frank Stronach have a clear vision for the future productive use of those 85 acres of mostly empty asphalt parking lot on some of the most prime real estate in town. Or maybe those people will be too busy to think about any of those things while driving all the way to the Americana at Brand or The Grove to do some of their shopping and dining, two of the many places built by Caruso that are thriving and expanding even in this down economy.
Kudos to all the Caruso executives for handling this entire process with such class and with such respect for Arcadia. And appreciation needs to be shown to four of our five current City Councilmen who voted to approve the development four years ago, most of whom also put in extra work and lobbying efforts to try to save this project. Likewise, the city staff did a tremendous amount of solid work on every complicated and high-profile aspect of this proposal.
In the meantime, Arcadia remains a great town — we certainly didn’t need a new mall to give us credibility. It’s up to all of us, and especially those who put up such a fight against the Shops at Santa Anita, to develop and support any and all current and alternative efforts to keep Arcadia growing and moving forward. That means also supporting Westfield Santa Anita (let’s hope they don’t suddenly become less pro-active with their expansion plans that ramped up significantly when Caruso was in town) and Santa Anita Park with its first fall meet without Oak Tree (another Stronach decision) — their local management had nothing to do with this, and snubbing them to the point that it harms their business would ultimately only exacerbate the challenging situation for Arcadia created by their owners.
This sad chapter makes capitalizing on other looming opportunities even more important, from the building of the Gold Line station to the revitalization efforts of Downtown Arcadia, and much more. We just took a collective body blow but there’s no reason we can’t get up off the mat and resume the good fight.
— By Scott Hettrick