Developer Rick Caruso Builds New 'Historical Landmarks'

"At 45, Caruso is dashing, fabulously rich, politically connected and determined to reinvent one of the country's most ubiquitous cultural icons-the mall...

His vision of his so-called "lifestyle center" is becoming increasingly popular among developers, who are building faux street-scene-type malls all over the country...With the help of Hollywood set designers and a team of architects, the developer has mastered the art of making things deliberately fake. His malls are facsimiles of city life, seeking to capture the well-moneyed baby boomers' gauzy memories of their youth.

. His critics complain that his projects are as hollow as the facades on a Hollywood set, that he replicates the past while discarding the grittiness that gives old buildings their soul."

Thanks to Rosemarie Ibanez