The complex fills space previously occupied by surface parking lots, an orchard and
nursery, which were the last remains of a dairy farm owned by A. F. Gilmore in the latter part of the 19th century. The developers began demolition of an antiques alley and other older buildings on Third Street behind
CBS Television City, and broke ground for the new mall in 1999. There was some controversy over potentially increasing traffic in a busy Los Angeles neighborhood that already offered several other shopping venues, including the
Beverly Center. The Grove opened in 2002. The
Warner Bros. tabloid television news program
Extra was taped in the complex from 2010-2013, usually on the mall's lawn area. From November 2015 to November 2017, it served as a venue for the fall finales of
Dancing with the Stars. The history behind the development of the A. F. Gilmore property that eventually became The Grove was not without controversy. In 1984, A. F. Gilmore and neighboring CBS Television City hired Olympia & York California Equities Corp. to look into the possibility of creating a major business and entertainment complex that would have been twice as large as Universal City but would have required the demolition of all existing structures at both Farmers Market and CBS in the process. That plan was not well received by the City of Los Angeles or by its neighbors and the plan was later shelved. Two years later A. F. Gilmore and CBS hired Urban Investment & Development Co. of Chicago to create another development plan. Later, the project was scaled down to 2 anchors. During the next decade, A. F. Gilmore announced in 1998 a further scaled down plan with
Caruso Affiliated as the new development partner for a new proposal that eventually became The Grove at Farmers Market, a $100-million project on . Nordstrom signed on in 2001 to build a store. By early 2001, toy retailer
FAO Schwarz also sign on for along with
Banana Republic,
Gap,
Barnes & Noble,
J. Crew (now closed),
Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant and a 14-screen movie complex to be the initial stores in the new project. FAO Schwarz was one of the first retail casualties at the Grove after FAO Schwarz's parent company had to declare bankruptcy in 2004. The Grove was able to replace the store with
American Girl Place, which opened in April 2006.
Abercrombie & Fitch closed their flagship store in February 2015, and was replaced seven months later with a
Nike flagship store that opened in September 2015. Also in 2013,
Banana Republic moved into a new space at the mall, and the old space was occupied by a
Topshop/
Topman store. In the original plan, the 14-screen movie complex was going to be built by
Pacific Theatres to be its first Arc Light multiplex. In May 2020, The Grove was damaged during
protests over the
murder of George Floyd. Caruso responded with an open letter that made a point of supporting the cause of the demonstrators, but criticized unspecified Los Angeles officials who failed to prevent violence that damaged many small businesses along the nearby streets that may never reopen. Pacific Theatres permanently ceased operations in 2021 due to the economic fallout of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
AMC Theatres acquired the lease to the Pacific Theatres locations at The Grove and
Americana at Brand in July 2021. ==Design==