Published by Financial Time on 17 June 2019

The past year has been a busy one for billionaire property developer Rick Caruso. He opened one of the most lauded shopping destinations in the US, moved into the luxury hotel business, was drawn into the US college admissions furore by a guest on his nine-bedroom yacht, and let it be known that he might like to be mayor of Los Angeles some day.

But right now the chairman of the board of trustees at the scandal-hit University of Southern California is upset about a doormat. Walking in from the well-staffed grounds of his Italianate mansion in the west Los Angeles district of Brentwood to a fireplace-warmed living room, he spots with dismay that the mat is not lined up with the door.

His eye for detail is "an uncontrollable thing", he says as Dodge, his dog, settles in at his feet.

It is the same at properties such as Palisades Village, the Nantucket-like cluster of boutiques he opened last year, where executives tell of Caruso ordering flower beds to be replanted to match a nearby cherry tree's blossoms. Up the coast in Montecito, where [...] read full article below

full article: Rick Caruso and his California dream