Palisades Village Reopens in Pacific Palisades, a Milestone for Wildfire Recovery

• Palisades Village reopened Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026, after being closed for 19 months because of smoke and water damage from the Palisades Fire.
• Rick Caruso invested more than $100 million to renovate the 125,000-square-foot center and improve nearby public infrastructure.
• The shopping center is 99% leased, with about one-third of the businesses new to the property.
• Returning tenants include K Bakery, Loomey's Toys, Angelini Ristorante & Bar and fashion designer Elyse Walker, whose original store on Antioch Street burned down.
• Mayor Karen Bass and community leaders called the reopening a crucial milestone in Pacific Palisades' long-term recovery.

Hundreds of residents gathered Saturday as Palisades Village reopened in Pacific Palisades, giving the fire-weary community its strongest sign yet that the neighborhood is coming back. The event marked the first time in 19 months that the upscale shopping center welcomed customers through its doors.

On Saturday morning, the Village reopened with a ribbon cutting attended by residents, business owners and community leaders. The ribbon-cutting ceremony began at 10:30 a.m. Shops and restaurants opened at 11 a.m., and crowds streamed through the property as families with young children ate ice cream, shoppers carried bags and lines formed outside stores offering opening-day promotions and giveaways. The festivities, which included retailer events, food tastings and family activities, were scheduled to continue until 8 p.m. Free drinks and food were offered from kiosks.

The reopening followed a day of final preparations, as workers were seen readying the property on Friday, Aug. 14, 2026.

The 125,000-square-foot center features a mix of shops, restaurants and a movie theater.

A $100 million restoration after a catastrophic fire

The January 2025 Palisades Fire destroyed thousands of homes and businesses across the coastal Los Angeles neighborhood. Palisades Village survived the flames, but heavy smoke and water damage forced a full-scale renovation. Environmental remediation was part of that extensive work. Workers stripped parts of the property down to the framing, treated wood, and replaced walls, insulation and air-conditioning ducts.

Developer Rick Caruso said the work cost more than $100 million, including major infrastructure repairs along Sunset Boulevard. The center is now 99% leased. The 99% occupancy was already reported as of early July. About two-thirds of its former tenants are back, while new names include Nancy Silverton's Italian steakhouse Spacca Tutto, h.wood Group's Alphabet Bar & Grill, beauty retailer Violet Grey and activewear retailer LESET's first West Coast location. Caruso worked with city leaders on a public-private partnership that included repairing damaged roads, painting crosswalks and curbs, and fixing broken streetlights on and near Sunset Boulevard. Among the returning tenants are Blue Ribbon Sushi, Buck Mason and Anine Bing, joining previously announced businesses such as K Bakery, Loomey's Toys and Elyse Walker. Grocery anchor Erewhon, which is expected to reopen in January, is also among the returning tenants.

Angelini Ristorante & Bar, run by prominent L.A. chef Gino Angelini, is also among the returning tenants.

Caruso CEO Corinne Verdery said the company spent more than $100 million over the past 19 months to rebuild and improve the property, including new interiors and kitchen equipment.

Seventy percent of the businesses opened Saturday, with the rest expected to open over the next few months. "Every brick has been cleaned. Every storefront has been painted," Caruso said. "People are going to be back here with their memories, with their families, with their friends," he told Eyewitness News. "My dream is that it gives people hope to reopen their businesses and rebuild their homes."

"I have been waiting 19 months to say welcome to Palisades Village," Caruso said at the ribbon-cutting. "We are in the middle of a recovery, and this is one chapter. It's a mega step, no doubt, but there's many more mega steps to come."

Some Palisades small businesses that burned in the fire have relocated to Palisades Village, including Loomey's Toys. "This village is the heartbeat of the community. It's going to be the place where everybody comes to reconnect over a bite to eat or a coffee or hanging out on the lawn," said Amanda Rastegar, owner of Loomey's Toys. "There was no better place to open the toy store, and Rick's team made it really seamless to move in here, and we're just very grateful."

"We could have easily not reopened and from a financial standpoint, probably would have made more sense because we were well insured, we were covered, we could continue to wait," Caruso said. "Some of our neighbors, and I'm critical of some of our commercial neighbors, are waiting until there's more rooftops. I don't think that's right. I think when you're a major landowner in an area that's been so impacted like the Palisades and you have an opportunity to be a catalyst and help blaze a trail and bring people along with you, especially a place where community can come and gather, you have an obligation to do that."

Caruso credited city officials for supporting the fast-paced renovation. "I am happy to criticize when criticism is due, and I'm happy to compliment when compliments are due," he said. "The mayor's office, the mayor, the city, Traci Park's office have been very supportive." He added that the work required cutting red tape: "We need inspections, we need inspectors out here, we need people out here. We need the red tape to be cut."

Community leaders see hope in the crowd

Shoppers moved through the refurbished outdoor center Saturday, taking advantage of free food, live entertainment and pop-up shops. For many, the reopening was emotional. Elyse Walker, a Pacific Palisades fashion designer who lost her 25-year flagship location on Antioch Street, called the day "a homecoming."

During the grand opening event, Walker said: "The past 20 months has proven to be one of the most challenging times in Los Angeles history, and yet here we are all together as a community to rally for a revival. Today is truly a homecoming."

Genevieve Bostic, whose family lost its home in Alphabet Streets, a neighborhood near Palisades Village that was heavily damaged in the January 2025 fire, said walking into the Village again brought an unexpected rush of emotions. "When we first came up the escalators, I started crying, because it felt like exactly it did prefire," Bostic said.

Allison Holdorff Polhill, president of the Pacific Palisades Community Council, lost her own home in the fire. She said the crowd and the open storefronts give residents a reason to feel hopeful while so many lots remain empty.

"This type of activity, opening the Village, gives everyone hope that there's businesses to patronize, all of these things that people do," said Polhill, who expects to move back into her rebuilt home in October.

Polhill, 61, a 30-year resident of Pacific Palisades, estimates it will take five years before much of the reconstruction is finished.

Local context: rebuilding is still in progress

Palisades Village sits at the center of a neighborhood that is still under reconstruction. Homes near the mall are in different stages, from nearly complete framing to drywall. Palisades Charter High School returned to its main campus in January, and the reopening of the Village adds another anchor to the recovery effort.

The reopening marks one of the most visible signs of commercial recovery in Pacific Palisades, even as many residents remained displaced, homes and schools are still being rebuilt and portions of the neighborhood still bear the scars of the fire.

The center draws customers from Brentwood, Malibu, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Calabasas. Caruso acknowledged that roughly 30% of the Village's customer base is still displaced, which makes the reopening a calculated bet on the community's future.

Background: survival, controversy and fire-resistant design

Palisades Village first opened in 2018 as a $200 million project. During the January 2025 wildfire, the center survived partly because of fire-resistant construction materials and the use of private firefighters, a decision that drew criticism. Caruso has defended the private crews, saying they freed up city firefighters during the emergency.

Caruso, executive chairman of his eponymous company, a former Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose company owns the Grove, the Americana at Brand and the Commons at Calabasas, reflected on the community's character in remarks Saturday: "This town was Mayberry by the sea. I always called it like living inside a Norman Rockwell picture, and then a nuclear bomb hit."

The Los Angeles Times says the fire destroyed more than 5,600 homes and businesses. FOX LA, citing Cal Fire, puts the total at 6,822 structures destroyed, including more than 5,500 homes and about 100 commercial buildings. Hyper-upscale grocer Erewhon, one of the center's anchors, is expected to reopen in January.

What comes next

City leaders also approved the Pacific Palisades Streetscape and Beautification Project, which covers sidewalk repairs, tree replanting, landscaping and lighting improvements around the Village. Mayor Karen Bass said residents need places to eat, shop and gather so they do not have to leave their community.

In a joint statement, Caruso credited the public-private partnership with city leaders, saying: "A thriving community depends on strong local businesses and vibrant gathering places, and bringing them back is essential to restoring the character and future of the Pacific Palisades. By working closely with Mayor Bass, Councilmember Park, and the whole City family, we were able to make major investments in public spaces and infrastructure while minimizing taxpayer costs and moving at the quick pace Angelenos deserve and expect." The city Board of Public Works unanimously approved the project.

In a statement, Bass said: "The reopening of Palisades Village is a critical milestone in the recovery of Pacific Palisades. It is imperative that residents have places to eat, shop, and come together so that they do not have to leave their community. Rick Caruso was committed to rebuilding this flagship commercial landmark from the start and returning it to Palisadians."

PAIGE will also reopen its Palisades Village store Saturday. The fashion retailer is offering limited-edition Palisades Social Club merchandise, with proceeds benefiting Steadfast LA, a nonprofit supporting wildfire recovery efforts in Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena.

Caruso announced the reopening date in an Instagram post in July, writing, "I'm so excited to share the news: Palisades Village is officially reopening to the public on the morning of August 15th."

For residents like Julian Bostic, whose home burned in 2025 and who is rebuilding, the reopening is proof that Pacific Palisades will return. "The Village didn't burn, right? The Village is up and running," he said. "That was the first moment that we, as a family, had any sort of hope."

Bostic said the Village had become 'an incredibly important part of our existence here in the Palisades' and a beacon of hope. Bostic, 54, who moved into his home near the Village in 2020 with his wife and two children, recalled being at the Village with other community members after the firestorm. "We were gathered there with other community members and just friends and just sort of in shell shock and thinking about our next move and not really sure exactly what to do," he said. He said someone reminded him that the Village structure was still in place, a moment that gave his family hope the community would return.