Once the industry came through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Caruso founder and executive chairman Rick Caruso recalled, he figured that there wouldn’t be another situation anytime soon that would shut down businesses and lives. Fast forward to early 2025 and the Altadena and Palisade wildfires, and the LA region was once again confronted with circumstances for which there were “no guidebooks.”

To get his business, his retail tenants and the community through the pandemic, Caruso and his team followed a few fundamental principles, he told CBRE’s Lew Horne, President for Advisory Services in Greater Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire, who facilitated the keynote interview with Caruso at Connect Los Angeles 2025.

Underpinning these principles was the idea that whether it’s with the company’s retail centers, its resort in Montecito or its apartment properties, “we’re dependent on people connecting, living, experiencing life.” That meant keeping the retail properties open to the fullest extent possible to give the community a place to go, and it meant navigating through a period in which the properties’ income fell drastically but expenses did not. It also meant paying fines for alleged health infractions by providing tables and chairs. “We’re going to continue to serve the community,” Caruso said.

“I’ve really been lucky with a great team of people,” said Caruso. “And it’s that same team that’s figuring out how to rebuild Altadena, Pasadena and Malibu.”

During January’s fires, Caruso witnessed devastation on a scale that was difficult to fathom. He also witnessed widespread lapses in handling the disaster. “The failure of leadership at so many levels was beyond what anybody could believe,” he told the Connect LA audience.

In a bid to fill some of these gaps in leadership, Caruso launched Steadfast LA, a private-sector initiative to expedite the rebuilding of communities. One of its aims is to provide first responders with the equipment they need and often do not have.

“Our fire department in LA city, for the amount of taxes we all pay, they do not have enough emergency equipment at most times to save people’s lives,” Caruso said. “They’re borrowing it from other stations or they’re borrowing it from hospitals.”

Caruso has served Los Angeles as a commissioner under three mayors and has aspired to public office himself. Asked by an audience member what he would do as governor, Caruso cited some of the issues facing the Golden State.

“We’re over-regulated,” he said, “We’re overly taxed. And we don’t have affordable housing… You can’t keep businesses here if they can’t house their employees, because they can’t grow here. And so we can solve all of that.”