Related Companies’ Belmar Apartments Opens in Santa Monica

By Joshua Ayers, Senior Editor

Irvine, Calif.—KTGY has announced the grand opening of the Belmar Apartments in Santa Monica. The 160-unit affordable rental community is located at 1725 Ocean Avenue and is part of Related’s $350 million Ocean Avenue South mixed-use, mixed-income condo and apartment village development located at Ocean Avenue and Olympic Drive, near the new Tongva Park and the Third Street Promenade. Related partnered with the City of Santa Monica and Community Corporation of Santa Monica on the project.

“The grand opening of this new urban village, along with the city’s new community park, completes a significant Civic Center Destination,” says KTGY Principal, Chris Texter, AIA, LEED AP. “KTGY was proud to be a part of the design team in this very significant community in the heart of Santa Monica Civic Center area. The design goals of a community of this size, complexity and caliber is definitely a team effort from the vision of the city to the client and all the consultants that made it possible. It is definitely a place to see and even better place to call home.”

KTGY, which was the architect of record for Belmar, was also the architect of record for the 65-unit condominium building, The Waverly, also located within the Ocean Avenue South development. KTGY worked in collaboration with Koening Eizenberg Architecture of Santa Monica and architect Moore Rubel Yudell of Santa Monica, which provided conceptual designs for Belmar and The Waverly, respectively.

Belmar Apartments, which reportedly received LEED Gold Certification, features a mix of live/work studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plan options with ground-floor live/work studios with roll-up glass doors that allow resident artists to interact directly with the public.

“One of the highlights of the community is the new ‘Living Street,’ which showcases artists on the walking street through the center of the village, providing pedestrians with a connection from Main Street to Ocean Avenue through a great assortment of retail, restaurants and outdoor dining, and public art. Some artists are already displaying their work in their live/work studios,” Texter says.

On the amenities front, Belmar residents have access to a fitness center, computer lab, outdoor lounge and barbecue grills, bike storage and a resident community room. Subterranean parking and building-specific elevator systems are also included into the community’s infrastructure.

Occupancy at Belmar is already at 100 percent and The Waverly residences are selling very quickly, according to Texter.