Club Studio opened at 3949 Portola Parkway on October 15, 2026, in the space at Orchard Hills Shopping Center where CVS Pharmacy used to be. The storefront had been empty since May 2022. A large membership gym could move into a grocery-anchored center because of one finding in a parking study the applicant gave the City of Irvine. The lot has far more spaces than the center has ever needed at one time. That spare room is also what lets a gym with 48-person classes share the lot with Pavilions.
Four years, two empty storefronts and an enclosed drive-thru lane
The gym fills more than the old CVS. The City's Planning Commission staff report from October 2, 2025 describes a membership-based health club spread across two vacant in-line spaces, 3943 and 3949 Portola Parkway. So the old pharmacy wasn't the only empty space on that stretch. The suite next door was vacant too.
The building also got bigger. The plan enclosed the old drive-thru pharmacy lane, adding 1,407 square feet. That brings the finished club to 18,290 square feet. The Orange County Business Journal reported the project in October 2025. It identified the operator as Irvine-based Fitness International LLC, the parent company of LA Fitness, and described the center as a 15.3-acre property anchored by Pavilions.
The City mailed hearing notices on September 11, 2025, to property owners, residents and homeowners associations within 500 feet of the site. When staff wrote the report, they had received no public comments.
The parking count that made room for a gym
Irvine's zoning rules set a parking ratio for each type of business, and a gym needs more spaces than a store. The old pharmacy use needed one space per 222 square feet. A health club needs one per 150. Here's how the numbers work out across the whole center, using the staff report's table:
- Before the gym: The center had 576 parking spaces, more than the 552 its existing uses required.
- The gym's share: At 18,290 square feet, the club alone needs 122 spaces. The report assigns it 100 of the existing spaces.
- On paper, after the gym: The center now needs 598 spaces under the code, 22 more than it has.
- In practice: The applicant's parking study found that no more than 294 spaces were ever filled at once, leaving 282 open.
Line four settled it. City staff wrote that actual demand at Orchard Hills Shopping Center is "far less" than the zoning standard assumes. They supported reducing the required parking by 22 spaces. Add the gym's 122 spaces to the busiest moment the study recorded and you get 416 cars, still well under the 576 spaces that exist. The property owner also accepted a condition: if parking problems show up later, it has to put parking management strategies in place.
The same table lists everything else that shares the lot. There's 91,326 square feet of retail, a child care center sized for 100 children, a convenience store, a gas station and 4,040 square feet of fast food. The gym is the newest piece of a busy property, and the study found that the lot has still run at about half capacity at its peak.
Inside: three studio rooms built for groups
How the rooms are set up explains how the gym will use that parking. The staff report describes three large studios:
| Studio | What it's for | Size | Max class |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweat+ | Open studio, yoga | 1,433 sq ft | 29 people |
| CS4 | Spin bikes, cardio and strength | 2,355 sq ft | 48 people |
| Reform | Pilates reformers | 1,974 sq ft | 40 people |
Classes run about 50 minutes, followed by a 30-minute window for cleaning and setup. The applicant expects most classes to draw 30 to 48 people, though the Sweat+ room tops out at 29. That schedule means people tend to arrive in groups on the class clock rather than one at a time. Outside the studios, the plans call for free weights, weight machines, treadmills, a lobby and locker rooms.
WhatNow covered the club in July 2026 and described studios for cycling, yoga, Pilates, boxing and interval training. It also described a recovery room with an infrared sauna, a massage chair, a tanning bed, massage guns and low-back release tools. The club's current location page lists weights, cardio and strength equipment, functional training, personal training, a locker room, towels and Wi-Fi. It doesn't list a pool, and it doesn't post hours for its Kids Klub.
Orchard Hills got a smaller version of the brand. The first Club Studio opened at Oak Creek Shopping Center, at Alton Parkway and Jeffrey Road, in a former hardware store. According to the Orange County Business Journal, that location is about 36,000 square feet, with a cycling center, Pilates, hot yoga, boxing and a pool. The Portola Parkway club is about half that size, which fits the three-room layout the City approved.
What the class schedule means for your Pavilions run
The applicant told the City it expects the busiest times to be mornings and evenings, before and after a typical workday. The City report proposed hours of 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day. The schedule Club Studio actually posts is shorter:
- Monday through Thursday: 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Friday: 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Saturday and Sunday: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
On weekdays, the gym's expected busy times fall before and after work. The parking study's peak count of 294 cars is a single highest figure, and the report doesn't say what time of day it happened. Either way, the lot had 282 spaces open even at its busiest. The 122 spaces the gym needs fit inside that margin, so the parking numbers leave room for a 6 p.m. spin class and an after-work grocery stop at the same time.
CVS hasn't come back, but the Pavilions at 3901 Portola Parkway has its own in-store pharmacy, with hours posted separately from the grocery store's. Check the pharmacy hours on that page before an evening refill. Club Studio's location page offers a free pass or class for anyone who wants to see the studios before deciding on a membership. Irvine Company Retail now lists the club as "Now Open" on the Orchard Hills Shopping Center directory.
A storefront that was empty for four years is full again at the shopping center down the street. If you'd like to talk about how Orchard Hills Shopping Center and its new neighbors fit into your own plans, Julie Tran offers a complimentary consultation and home valuation, with the local knowledge and responsive service Orchard Hills homeowners expect.