Picking Up Pace at the Palisades Village Project

By JOHN HARLOW | Editor-in-Chief

With around 200 days left before Rick Caruso’s long-awaited Palisades Village project opens to the public, the pace of both construction and signing tenants has been accelerating.

As our drone shot shows, the walls of the new Bay Theatre by Cinépolis are in place, with fittings and plantings due to follow in the spring.

The basement parking structure is now fully underground.

Elsewhere, along the (still officially unnamed) main street—which runs parallel to Sunset where major tenants such as Vintage Grocers are believed to be located—steel framers are hard at work.

As the New Year arrived, at least two single-story blocks were now standing in metal form.

Over recent months, there have been around 200 workers on site, but this is set to double to around 400 over the next few weeks.

In the spring, construction workers will start to be eclipsed by the arrival of more electricians and plumbers before the final store fitters arrive.

The previous development on Swarthmore had 25 “doors,” or operators, on site: Caruso is aiming for around 42.

The most recent Caruso tenants were announced on Dec. 19: nearly one-third of the tenants are now known.

The latest are edo little bites, General Porpoise and SunLife Organics.

Edo, created without the use of any capital letters by Lucca-born chef Edoardo Baldi, is a breakfast place specializing in tarts and croissants, salads, sandwiches, and toasts. There will be take-out options for those on the run in the morning.

The chef also runs e. baldi Ristorante and edo Italian baretto in Beverly Hills.

General Porpoise, a high-end coffee and doughnut place, has been built by Renee Erickson, a James Beard prize-winning chef based in Seattle.

She sources from her own 500-acre farm and will be looking to make Palisadian pastries with locally sourced eggs and fruit.

SunLife Organics may be a counter-weight to the other two new arrivals, primarily offering smoothies, juices and shakes—and wellness shots.

It has a motto at its original Malibu location: Love, Heal and Inspire.

This is its third Caruso location: The developer likes to keep working with tenants who have worked elsewhere.

This is on top of the list of 14 tenants announced, drip by drip, over recent months, within the space laid out by Boston-based architects Elkus Manfredi.

The first 14 are Towne by Elyse Walker, Max-Bone, Sweet Laurel Bakery, McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams, FdeiM by Madeo, Vintage Grocers, Jennifer Meyer, Botanica Bazaar, Carbon38, The Little Market, Marysia, Miller’s Oath, Zimmermann and the return of community staple Bentons. Others will follow over the next few weeks.