Just a few months after we last dropped by, wood framing has reached its peak at 125 Long Beach Boulevard, where Orange County-based developer Raintree Partners is in the midst of construction on a mixed-use apartment complex known as Aster.

Located next to Metro's 1st Street Station in Downtown Long Beach, the project replaced a surface parking lot at the southwest corner of Long Beach Boulevard and Broadway. Known as aster, the apartment building stands eight stories in height and will feature 218 apartments above 8,200 square feet of ground-floor commercial space at completion.

View of Aster looking east from BroadwayUrbanize LA

Approved plans call for a mix of studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments, ranging from 470 to 1,435 square feet in size. Additionally, Aster sits atop a two-level subterranean parking garage with space for up to 312 vehicles.

Carrier Johnson + Culture is designing the contemporary podium-type building, which will be clad in materials including cement plaster and metal panels, with brick veneer will be integrated into the facade of its lower three floors along to match the exterior of an adjoining historic building to the west.

125 Long Beach BoulevardGoogle Maps

In addition to housing, Aster will feature open space amenities including two outdoor decks at the podium level, a roof terrace, a fitness center, and a club room.

Aster is rising just east of Broadstone Promenade, a similar 189-unit apartment complex now under construction at 127 E. Broadway. That project was entitled to Raintree, but sold to developer Alliance Residential. The Aster site also sits across Broadway and Long Beach Boulevard from the Onni East Village, a high-rise housing and retail complex now being built by Vancouver-based Onni Group.