"It's not absolutely full, but you'd have to really search for a parking stall."
Whittier Community Development Director Ben Pongetti said that to the City Council on July 14, 2026. A council member had asked whether the city's claim of "adequate" parking at The Groves included the spaces way behind Stater Bros. It does. Whittier Informed reported that the city counts the whole center as one shared lot, split into zones but added up as a single total.
That one accounting choice explains most of what happens on a Friday night at Rodeo 72. On paper the lot works. In practice, the parking that makes it work is the parking you can't see from the food hall's front door. And the two newest additions to Heritage Court will add to that pressure, not ease it.
The Lot Has Ten Zones, and Only One of Them Is Next to the Food
Traffic engineering firm Linscott, Law & Greenspan surveyed The Groves on Friday, March 27, Saturday, March 28, and Wednesday, April 1, 2026. It divided the 749 spaces into zones A through J. Whittier Informed's May 23 breakdown of that study shows how differently the zones behaved.
| Zone | Spaces | Location | Spring 2026 survey result |
|---|---|---|---|
| E | 133 | Closest to Rodeo 72 | 85 to 99 percent full on all three survey days, peaking at 99 percent on a Wednesday afternoon |
| C | 157 | In front of Stater Bros. | Most open spaces on every survey day, dropping as low as 38 percent full on a Saturday |
Zone C has more spaces than Zone E, and on that Saturday most of them were empty. In this lot, "adequate" means there are spaces somewhere. It doesn't mean there are spaces near your dinner. If you've ever circled the rows by the food hall and ended up parking by the grocery store, you've walked the gap between those two zones.
Why the City Can Still Call It Adequate
The Groves was never designed to have a space for every business at the same moment. Standard city code would have required about 1,495 spaces for a development this size. Whittier Informed's July report puts that figure at 1,487. The site was built with 749, roughly half.
The city approved that under a shared parking model. The idea is that different businesses get busy at different times. A gym fills early, restaurants peak at lunch and dinner, and shoppers come in the afternoon, so the same spaces can serve all of them. EOS Fitness shows how much depends on that timing. Its 38,082 square feet would require about 761 spaces under standard code on its own, which is more than the entire lot holds.
Then take out the spaces that are already spoken for. According to the May report, the 749 shrink quickly:
- 35 accessible spaces, 14 time-limited, 13 pickup, and 12 reserved, which leaves 675 general spaces for the whole center
- A proposed parking management plan would set aside 120 employee spaces in what the study calls "less desirable" areas
- The same plan would convert 8 more spaces into curbside pickup and carpool stalls near the Whittier Cruiser stop
- That would leave about 547 customer spaces
Those last steps were proposals in May. We found no confirmation that they've been put in place. They do show how thin the margin was before anything new opened.
Two New Draws Are Coming to Heritage Court
The shared model only works while the peaks stay staggered, and Heritage Court is adding evening business. On July 14, the City Council voted 4-0 to let CAPO Public House expand from inside Rodeo 72 into Building 7. Council Member Cathy Warner was absent. Building 7 is the former Superintendent's Residence at 7008 Walnut Grove Drive. The plan includes a full bar, arcade games, pool tables, and hours from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m., the same hours as the food hall next door, which the same owners run.
The building is about 100 years old, brick, and two stories, with 1,665 square feet. It dates from the Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Facility, which operated on this land from 1891 to 2004. CAPO applied for a Type 48 license. That license allows beer, wine, and spirits without requiring food service, so guests can bring food over from the Rodeo 72 counters. Minors can't enter and stay under that license type.
Across the courtyard, Sol Korean BBQ received permits for a 5,270-square-foot restaurant with outdoor seating in the former Administration building at 7007 Walnut Grove Drive.
As of this writing, neither has a confirmed opening date. The current CAPO listing on Rodeo 72's site describes the public house but doesn't announce a separate Building 7 opening. Both are on the way, though, and both will be busiest at the same dinner and late-night hours that already fill Zone E. In May, city staff wrote that adding both businesses, along with a fully occupied food hall, "may result in parking demand at The Groves reaching maximum capacity."
That warning wasn't in the July report the council voted on. The July report relied on a newer June 15 parking study, which showed parking slightly tighter than the April version, and it kept the word "adequate."
The 42 Spaces That Were Supposed to Help
At that July 14 meeting, Pongetti pointed to a safety valve. A developer proposed a five-story Go Store It self-storage facility at 12090 Whittier Boulevard, directly across from Rodeo 72, on the site of M&S Auto Salvage. The salvage yard has operated there since the 1960s. In May, the storage developer signed an agreement to build 42 public parking spaces for Groves customers in exchange for a strip of city-owned land along the property line.
On July 20, six days after the council approved CAPO's expansion, the Planning Commission voted 3-0 to deny the storage project. The Whittier Daily News covered the decision and described the salvage site as the last remaining parcel in the Lincoln Specific Plan, the planning framework behind The Groves.
The commissioner who made the motion to deny said the project went against what the plan was meant to protect, a walkable, community-focused space. Residents who spoke at the hearing questioned the developer's account of its outreach. They said petition signatures had been collected under the banner of saving a dog park, not as direct support for a storage building.
CAPO's approval stands on its own because the two projects were never legally tied. A Planning Commission denial can usually be appealed to the City Council. The most recent reporting we found, from late July, left that possibility open, and we haven't seen a later decision. For now, the extra 42 spaces exist only in an agreement for a project that was denied.
Getting to Rodeo 72 Without Circling
Since the lot's spare capacity sits at the Stater Bros. end, a smooth visit to the food hall at 7012 Walnut Grove Drive comes down to choosing which constraint to plan around.
- Park at the far end on purpose. In the spring survey, Zone C in front of Stater Bros. had the most open spaces every day. Heading there first is usually faster than circling Zone E.
- Use the curbside stalls for quick stops. Rodeo 72 keeps seven marked short-term stalls next to the marketplace for rideshare pickup and drop-off, delivery drivers, and takeout orders.
- Skip the car on Cruiser days. The city's all-electric Whittier Cruiser lists The Groves and Rodeo 72 among its destinations. It runs Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and you book on demand in the Ride Circuit app. Circuit says you can't schedule rides in advance. A ride costs $3 for one person plus $3 for each additional passenger, with a $6 cap per group. Pongetti told the council the Cruiser "certainly alleviates some" of the demand. He also confirmed that nothing requires the city to keep it running.
Once you're inside, the current vendor list includes Blue Bowl, CAPO, Crepes Avenue, Eggbred, Karai Handroll Bar, Kare, Krapow, Las Chelaguas, Paper Rice, Primal Cuts, Shootz, and The Inka Spot, along with Grailed Gallery. The market opened on Saturday, May 3, 2025, in a renovated building from the old facility, according to Eater LA. The city's points-of-interest page still lists it as under construction.
October Is the Market's Busiest Month on the Calendar
The rest of this month will put the lot to the test. Rodeo 72's calendar lists three events:
- Saturday, October 17: The Big Sleeps Fundraiser Art Show. The event page lists two different time windows, 5 to 11 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m., so check before you go.
- Saturday, October 24: The Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun Market, 2 to 8 p.m.
- Friday, October 30: The free, family-friendly Boo-gie Nights Halloween Dance Party, 5 to 8 p.m.
Two of those land on Saturdays, and one falls on a Friday evening during the dinner rush. The November and December calendars show no events listed yet. On any of those October nights, the Cruiser or a parking spot by Stater Bros. is the simplest plan.
At Christine Kennedy, we follow details like these because they shape everyday life around The Groves and nearby Whittier streets, from where you park on a Friday to what Heritage Court will look like once CAPO's lounge and Sol Korean BBQ open. If you own a home nearby and want to know how new projects like these might affect its value, we're glad to talk it through and put together a free home valuation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
