Garden Grove / Central Orange County
Garden Grove has two big-box clubs we could confirm, 24 Hour Fitness on Chapman Avenue west of Brookhurst (named on The Promenade's leasing listing) and LA Fitness on Valley View in the west end, plus one boutique brand, Club Pilates on Beach Boulevard near Garden Grove Boulevard. Independent gyms are active on Garden Grove Boulevard itself: in December 2024 the Zoning Administrator took up a use permit for a 2,300 sq ft gym at 8610 Garden Grove Boulevard, in a center that already has a martial arts studio. Solidcore and Burn Boot Camp list studios in Costa Mesa and Laguna Niguel but none in Garden Grove, so boutique operators have room in the neighborhood centers on Brookhurst, Chapman and Garden Grove Boulevard, keeping in mind that the boulevard's mixed-use zones require a CUP above 1,500 sq ft.
Population
170,964
Median HHI
$92,174
Median age
40.2
Homeownership
53.1%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates.
Primary retail corridors
Brookhurst Street · Harbor Boulevard · Chapman Avenue · Westminster Avenue · Garden Grove Boulevard
Specific shopping centers in Garden Grove that already carry credible co-tenancy for this use. Listed in approximate order of fit.
Chapman Avenue at Brookhurst Street
Anchors / key tenants: regional and value retail mix
Repositioned from the original 1956 Orange County Plaza. Long-running community center at the city’s most important retail intersection (Brookhurst/Chapman).
Garden Grove Boulevard between Beach and Brookhurst
Anchors / key tenants: Korea House BBQ Buffet, dense Korean retail and dining
North-of-Little-Saigon Korean retail and dining district. Korean BBQ, KBBQ buffets, Korean grocery, and beauty/skincare operators line Garden Grove Blvd. Cultural-fit concepts outperform generic chains here.
SWC Brookhurst Street at Chapman Avenue
Anchors / key tenants: CVS Pharmacy, Chuze Fitness, Citibank
Daily-needs and fitness co-tenancy with Best Choice Supermarket, El Pollo Loco, Little Caesar’s, CosmoProf, and T-Mobile. Functional cross-shop with the rest of the Brookhurst/Chapman intersection.
Existing operators are the most honest comp for whether a use can support Garden Grove rents. These are publicly visible fitness space businesses currently trading in the market.
24 Hour Fitness (Garden Grove Sport, club 00156)
9561 Chapman Avenue, Garden Grove, CA 92841
The brand's only Garden Grove club, open since November 1990 per 24 Hour Fitness' club data. The Promenade at Garden Grove's leasing listing names 24 Hour Fitness among the center's stores, though the club's own address (9561) sits just west of the 9635-9939 Chapman range the listing gives. The city's GIS zoning layer maps this frontage NMU.
LA Fitness (Garden Grove)
11932 Valley View Street, Garden Grove, CA 92845
Big-box club in west Garden Grove, per LA Fitness' club search. The city's GIS zoning layer shows C-2 around the site.
Club Pilates Garden Grove
12965 Beach Boulevard, Garden Grove, CA 92841
Open reformer Pilates studio per the brand's studio page (not flagged coming soon), with classes from 6:00 a.m. Its mapped location is near where Garden Grove Boulevard meets Beach Boulevard, the west end of the stretch the catalog calls the Korean District, and the GIS layer shows C-2 there.
01
Today every gym needs a hearing: Table 1 of Section 9.16.020.030 makes Athletic and Health Clubs, Gyms a conditional use in C-1, C-2, C-3 and O-S and does not allow them in O-P, M-1 or M-P. A gym with massage is conditional only in C-2 and must meet Section 9.16.020.050.E (every massage provider holds a Police Chief operator's permit under Chapter 5.12, no alcohol, no live entertainment, open to the public for men and women).
02
A pending change could help small studios: on August 20, 2026 the Planning Commission recommended Zoning Text Amendment A-047-2026 to the City Council (Resolutions 6146-26 to 6149-26). It would let gyms of 1,500 sq ft or less open by right in C-1, C-2, C-3 and O-S, keep a CUP above 1,500 sq ft, expressly include yoga, Pilates and Zumba in the gym definition, and create a separate Martial Arts Studio use allowed in O-P, C-1 and C-2 (by right up to 1,500 sq ft). Check whether Council has adopted it before you price a CUP into the schedule.
03
Art, music and dance studios are already by right: Table 1 permits them in O-P, C-1 and C-2, and the Section 9.04.060 definition currently includes martial arts. Section 9.16.040.150 parks studios at 1 space per employee plus 1 per 2 students, while spas, health clubs and gyms are 1 per 200 sq ft. A 25-student barre or dance class with 2 instructors needs 15 spaces; a 10,000 sq ft gym needs 50.
04
Mixed-use parcels, including the Chapman frontage around Brookhurst mapped NMU and the GGMU parcels along Garden Grove Boulevard: gyms of 1,500 sq ft or less are permitted in every mixed-use zone, and larger gyms need a CUP in GGMU, CC-3, NMU and AR and are not listed for CC-1 or CC-2 in the city's posted 2012 table. The Zoning Administrator's December 12, 2024 staff report for CUP-272-2024 applied that rule to a 2,300 sq ft gym in a former nightclub at 8610 Garden Grove Boulevard (GGMU-2): 12 spaces at 1 per 200 sq ft, a building permit for the change of occupancy before opening, and staff's standard gym conditions. In the city's posted 2012 Chapter 9.18 ordinance, a gym with massage or a bathhouse also needed at least 15,000 sq ft and hours of 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
05
Court sports and league play: an Indoor Sports Facility (basketball, volleyball, indoor soccer) is conditional only in M-P under Table 1, and Section 9.16.040.150 has no fixed ratio for it; parking is set by a licensed traffic engineer's study that accounts for league and tournament schedules (Section 9.16.020.050.AL). Pickleball or volleyball concepts should plan on that study and an M-P site.
Zoning, licensing, and demographic figures on this page come from the public records below. Codes and licenses change, so confirm with the city and the licensing agency before you sign.