Westfield Group, owner of Westfield Shoppingtown Santa Anita, plans to sue the City of Arcadia and developer Caruso Affiliated to prevent The Shops at Santa Anita, the outdoor mall, from being built.
Caruso and Westfield are still battling over the proposed Caruso lifestyle center. A decade ago the race track's south parking lot had been rezoned for commercial development. Rick Caruso feels his development will help Westfield while Westfield believes a new mall will cannibalize tenants and harm both companies and the city's sales tax revenues.
A full page advertisement authorized by Arcadia First! speaks out against Caruso Affiliated's plans to build a mall on the parking lot of Santa Anita Park race track.
A full page color advertisement solicits Arcadia residents' reviews on the new mall to be built by Caruso Affiliated on the Santa Anita Park race track parking lot. The mall will be called The Shops at Santa Anita.
Developer Caruso Affiliated has submitted a revised plan and environmental impact report (EIR) for review for the proposed development on the parking lot of the Santa Anita Park race track, called The Shops at Santa Anita.
Developer Rick Caruso's $400 million open-air mall at the Santa Anita Park race track may be stiff competition for retailers at Westfield Shoppingtown. City leaders hope the two malls can coexist.
Westfield Shoppingtown has hired one of the largest law firms in Los Angeles--Latham and Watkins, to slow developer Rick Caruso's proposal to build a mall on he grounds of the adjacent Santa Anita Park race track.
Frank Stronach, chairman of MI Developments, the owner of Santa Anita Park, says he is optimistic his company can work out a new deal with developer Rick Caruso to build an outdoor mall at Santa Anita Park, even though he voided a 2005 joint-venture agreement with Caruso in April to build the Shops at Santa Anita mall in the race track's parking lot.
Westfield Group is funding a new "grass roots" coalition to oppose the Santa Anita Park race track mall development by Caruso Affiliated. The coalition is called Arcadia First! but includes Westfield representatives, Westfield tenants and downtown businesses, and not only citizens, as the membership in a grass roots organization might suggest.
Developer Rick Caruso said he is in the process of finalizing a new deal with Santa Anita Park's owners to build an outdoor mall at the race track's south parking lot. MI Developments (MID) (owner of track), voided a 2005 joint-venture development agreement with Caruso Affiliated in April 2010 for the proposed 825,000 square feet The Shops at Santa Anita, as part of MID's bankruptcy reorganization. MID and Caruso have been renegotiating since, and the development will be similar with some minor variations.
Developer Rick Caruso of Caruso Affiliated is no longer pursuing a deal with Santa Anita Park owners MI Developments to develop an outdoor mall in the race track's parking lot. The project was known as The Shops at Santa Anita. Caruso said, "We're not pursuing it, because of the (Magna Entertainment Corp.) bankruptcy...and everything else." Arcadia city councilman Mickey Segal said it's a loss of "a projected $2.5 million to $3 million of revenue (each year) to the city" in sales and property tax.
George Haines, General Manager of Santa Anita Park race track, writes an open letter in support of the Caruso Affiliated development called The Shops at Santa Anita.
Residents voice concerns over the Santa Anita Park race track parking lot development of an outdoor mall to include retail, commercial and apartment space. Residents worry about how the quality of life in Arcadia will be affected. A draft of the environmental report should be ready by late June.
Judge James C. Chalfant stands by his July decision that the environmental impact report (EIR) that Arcadia officials relied upon in approving the mall was faulty in 11 areas and that it would have to be revised before the Caruso mall project, proposed for the Santa Anita Park race track parking lot, known as the Shops at Santa Anita, can move forward.
The City Council wants to finish its review of the Caruso outdoor mall project before the April council elections. Opponents to the development feel the Caruso project is being fast-tracked through the approval processes for political reasons.
Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach, who is about to become the sole owner of Santa Anita Park, said he hasn't ruled out talking to developer Rick Caruso about reviving a project to build an outdoor mall in the race track's parking lot. Last week Caruso announced that he is no longer pursuing a development deal with Santa Anita Park's outgoing owner, MI Developments, Inc. (MID), for the upscale Shops at Santa Anita. Stronach is the outgoing chairman of MID.
Arcadia officials will meet with Santa Anita Park's majority owner Frank Stronach, to talk about the mall project that fell through with Caruso Affiliated, and to see if Stronach still envisions a high end retail project to develop on the track parking lot.