Rejecting a ballot-box battle in the city’s mall wars, Westfield says it will now sue to block a rival’s neighboring project, the Pasadena Star-News reports.
The Australian shopping-center giant said late Thursday it plans to sue both Arcadia and developer Caruso Affiliated to prevent an 830,000-square-foot outdoor mall from being built.
“We’ve made our choice,” said Ken Wong, president of U.S. operations at Westfield, which operates the Westfield Santa Anita mall on Baldwin Avenue. “We believe strongly in the case. We think an impartial judicial review is the way to go.”
Attorneys will file a lawsuit under the California Environmental Quality Act in the next week or two, Wong said. Caruso’s development partners, Magna Entertainment, owner of Santa Anita Park, will also be named as a defendant.
City officials had long anticipated either a lawsuit or a referendum, or both, from Westfield to block developer Rick Caruso’s The Shops at Santa Anita, but the company itself had been mum.
