Caruso Affiliated Holdings and the city of Glendale broke ground on the Americana at Brand Tuesday with a ceremony that featured the explosive "demolition" of a miniature building, musical entertainment and scores of local dignitaries.

Developer Rick Caruso kicked off construction of the $324-million, 900,000-square-foot project by pushing down on an old-fashioned detonator that triggered a loud and flashy pyrotechnic display. The resulting "explosion" destroyed a mock wooden structure with an "ACME" sign that had been erected by crews in the middle of the 15.5-acre site.

The assembled crowd of city officials and business representatives cheered as the explosive display wound down, then confetti rained down on the group and a jazz band struck up a festive tune.

"This is a great day for us and the city," said Caruso, a former Los Angeles Police commissioner whose company also developed The Grove -- the wildly popular retail and entertainment center in Los Angeles' Fairfax District. "This project is going to revolutionize retail and development in this country."

The Americana will be four times bigger than The Grove, which draws an estimated 18 million visitors annually, according to Caruso Affiliated officials. It will feature 238 apartments, 100 luxury condominiums, a 16-screen Pacific Theatres cinema, 75 upscale shops and boutiques, casual and fine-dining establishments and a nearly 2-acre park at the center of it all.

"The park is going to be a place where you can go hang out, meet with friends and family, go for a stroll down Brand Boulevard and get a bite to eat, and just spend some down time, something everybody needs nowadays," Caruso said. "The condominiums will be one of the few places where you can actually call room service and have it brought up to your home. It is going to be an amazing place to live."

He thanked the community for supporting his vision for the project.

"It honors us that you have trusted us with delivering a truly great project for a truly great city," Caruso said.

Demolition has been completed at the site, and grading permits have already been secured with the city, said Dave Williams, Caruso senior vice-president of architecture and design.

"As soon as we tear down the tent we are ready to start grading," Williams said, referring to the tent erected for the groundbreaking ceremony. He added that foundation permits should be secured by late summer, at which point crews will start pouring concrete.

"By the beginning of 2007 we will start erecting buildings on top of that concrete," Williams said.

Caruso officials hope to open the Americana to the public in March 2008.

The $324-million cost of the project is substantially higher than the previous estimate of $264.2 million because Caruso Affiliated will now be building the luxury condominiums. The $264.2 million only covered the retail and apartment portion of the project, Caruso said.

"Originally we were going to sell the air rights for the condominiums, but we decided to do them ourselves," Caruso said, adding that rising construction costs and the selection of upgraded materials for the project also pushed the final cost up.

Even before the first shovelful of dirt is turned over, the Americana has already fulfilled its job of revitalizing the city's center, Mayor Dave Weaver said.

"Seeing all these mixed-use developments coming into town nowadays tells us that this is the catalyst we were hoping for," he said.

Councilman Ara Najarian hailed the project as a rebirth of sorts for the city.

"You are standing on ground zero of the resurgence of Glendale," he told the crowd. "Developers are fighting to stand shoulder to shoulder with Americana, and I have no doubt this will help make Glendale one of the premiere cities in California in the coming years."

The ceremony marked the end of a long, 10-year road for the Americana project, which faced opposition from some residents and the owners of the adjacent Glendale Galleria, but was approved by voters in a September 2004 referendum.

Galleria owners General Growth Properties filed suit against the project in 2004, challenging its environmental approvals and arguing that two buildings to be demolished on the site were historic. But a Los Angeles Superior Court judge's rejection of the case in January 2005, and a state appellate court's subsequent ruling against General Growth in November 2005, cleared the way for the Americana's construction.

The city invested $77.1 million into the project, mostly through land entitlements.

Caruso has predicted Glendale will see sales and property tax revenues of $32 million in the first 30 years after the Americana is built.