Rick Caruso Talks Lapses in City, State Leadership

Anyone tuning into Rick Caruso’s speaking engagements of late would think there was a real attitude problem at City Hall.

Maybe there is.

Anyone within earshot of Nya Studios on Cahuenga Boulevard this past week got the latest version of the critique when Caruso took the stage on Thursday for Day 2 of the Bloomberg Screentime event. It was a conference mostly geared toward Hollywood, media and technology, so the subject of the film industry’s challenges came up during The Grove developer’s talk.

“It really angers me because our leadership — citywide, statewide — have an arrogance to them, that they seem to think that since the entertainment industry was born here and built here, that they don’t need to attend to it, and it will just stay here. But that’s not the reality,” Caruso said on stage.

While recent talk centered on tax credits to keep filming local, the developer suggested a higher-level change.

“It starts with attitude,” he said. “It starts with attitude of leadership, saying, ‘This industry is important. We’re not going to lose it, and I want to sit down with all the people that are influential and understand it above and below the line. And tell me what you need to stay here.’”

Caruso pointed to San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie as an example of someone in leadership effecting change. He said the Levi Strauss & Co. heir has been “doing a great job” with the city and it’s started to “turn the corner.”

A call goes a long way

If this all sounds familiar, it should.

Caruso blasted city officials for a lackadaisical attitude toward the real estate industry that isn’t unique to one administration. His critiques open up the question of who the conduit is between city hall leadership and real estate.

Back in June, Caruso was downtown for the Connect Los Angeles conference and the subject of empty offices and homelessness in the central business district came up.

He took the opportunity then to jab away on the theme of lackadaisical leadership:

“If you had somebody downtown that actually started cleaning up the streets — how about picking up the phone and encouraging businesses to come down. I’m talking about an elected official. I built one of the larger businesses in Los Angeles and I [told [former Mayor] Eric Garcetti on his way out the door, which couldn’t have come quick enough, I said, ‘You never called once to say how can we help you grow your business in L.A.?’ It blows my mind. Dick Riordan did it. Jim Hahn did it. Tom Bradley did it.”

Measure ULA relief?

Maybe it’s an olive branch, or perhaps its tea leaves on her re-election campaign, but L.A. Mayor Karen Bass made sure to give kudos to Caruso later Thursday.

That’s when her office issued a release announcing Bass, after a meeting with Caruso, penned a letter to the city council urging for an ordinance that would allow for a one-time pause of the Measure ULA property-transfer tax on residential deals in the Palisades on account of the January wildfires.

ULA calls for a 5.5 percent tax on properties sold over $10.6 million. It’s a 4 percent assessment on deals starting at $5.3 million.

The mayor proposed owners of homes affected by the flames be given a one-time exemption from the so-called mansion tax over a period of three years.

No word on when that ordinance may be drafted and go to vote before the full council, but it’s a major first step in addressing an issue the real estate industry raised in the weeks following the fire.

Deal sheet

In lighter fare, a few homes with celebrity ties made their way into the headlines this week.

Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine and supermodel Behati Prinsloo sold their Montecito home at 700 Picacho Lane for $60 million. That’s now the most expensive home sale recorded for the celebrity haven in Santa Barbara County.

Westside Agency’s Kurt Rappaport and Robert Riskin of Village Properties’ Riskin Partners Estate Group represented the high-profile couple. Meanwhile, Riskin, along with Plus Real Estate’s Tyrone McKillen, found the buyer.

On the listing side, a home once owned by Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell in the Pacific Palisades is now on the market for $13.5 million.

The home at 1417 Capri Drive is being marketed by Compass’ Josh Flagg and is being sold by Champion Real Estate Company founders Robert and Marjorie Champion, per property records.

Should the home sell near ask, it would be subject to Measure ULA’s higher tier.

With the fine print not yet dry on Bass’ push for an ordinance temporarily pausing ULA, it’s unclear if this property and others like it stand to benefit from the exemption.