Anyone who proposes a more than quarter billion-dollar project is sure to draw a lot of attention.

But Rick Caruso is the type of person that does not shy away from the limelight. And after spearheading the immensely popular Grove shopping complex in Los Angeles and serving as Los Angeles Police Commission president, the controversy surrounding Caruso's $264.2-billion, 15.5-acre Americana at Brand project seemed like par for the course for the man named Developer of the Year by the L.A. Business Journal.

The year started a little rough for Caruso, who holds a juris doctor degree from Pepperdine University School of Law and who has lectured on real estate issues at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Public Administration. His massive commercial and residential project in the heart of Glendale was in limbo, mired in a lawsuit filed by General Growth Properties. The Glendale Galleria owners had argued that the city's environmental studies for the project were inadequate, and that two buildings on the property were historically significant and should be preserved.

But it was an uphill, if long, battle from there for Caruso and his company, Caruso Affiliated Holdings. First, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge sided with the developer and shot down General Growth's argument. Then in November, a three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeals, Second Appellate District upheld the local judge's ruling, striking the deathblow to General Growth's case.

On Dec. 27, General Growth's deadline to request a review of the appeals court's decision by the state Supreme Court expired and Caruso's project was finally back on track, after a legal battle that cost the city $1.5 million.

"I am obviously grateful to the courts for having the wisdom to see what was really going on with this lawsuit," said Caruso, who stepped down from his post with the Police Commission in June after Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's election. "I always had the confidence in the integrity of the environmental review conducted by the city's staff."

With demolition of the remaining buildings on the site slated for sometime in January, Caruso is looking forward to the project finally beginning to take shape in the middle of 2006, with a grand opening scheduled for spring 2008, he said.

"I believe those that were concerned about the project will become fans of it once it opens," he said. "It is going to be a very special place in the center of Glendale."

Caruso still has a lot of convincing to do. Besides the many headlines generated throughout the year by the legal battle with General Growth, Caruso's name was also cropped up frequently in the Glendale News-Press' Community Forum pages. And the comments were not always favorable.

"Caruso pulled out all the stops in getting all his political contacts to support his project," wrote Albert Hofmann, an Americana critic, in a February commentary supporting General Growth's appeal. "He even had his employees at the Grove come to Glendale the day before the special election to distribute 'Yes on A, B and C' door hangers in neighborhoods which Caruso felt were not in his camp."

Hormann was referring to the referendum held in September 2004, which resulted in the voters' approval of the Americana by a narrow margin. He accused Caruso of influencing the results of the election through hefty political contributions.

"Caruso's mall is sure to stunt all small businesses prevalent in south Glendale since only so many shoppers can get to Glendale, and they have only so much money to spend there," wrote Richard B. Cathcart in March. "Small stores won't find a home in Caruso's mall, even though he's announced he'll offer diversity and variety."

But many other letter writers expressed their support of Caruso's plans, and they were backed by most of the City Council.

"I think the impact of Americana is going to be a positive one and that is one of the reasons I fought so hard during the election to get it passed," Councilman Bob Yousefian said. "It is already having an impact in terms of bringing developers into the city to put their hard-earned cash up for purchasing properties so they can develop them. It is very apparent that, because of Rick's project, some of the bigger developers are not afraid of coming here. They think that if Rick Caruso is willing to take a chance on our city, it's a pretty good bet."