Large apartment investor makes its Santa Monica debut. (Real Estate).

ARCHSTONE-Smith Trust has made a big splash with its first foray into Santa Monica.

The apartment owner and developer, which owns more than 100,000 units nationwide, just closed on the purchase of three fully leased apartment complexes totaling 229 units for a combined $57.5 million.

Archstone-Smith, based in Englewood, Colo., paid $251,000 a unit for the complexes at 425 Broadway, 1455 4th St. and 1915 Ocean Way.

"The attraction was the high barrier to entry," said John Walsh, vice president at Marcus & Millichap, who, with Ronald Harris, represented both sides in the deals. "It takes three to four years to get a project off the ground in Santa Monica."

The sellers were a series of limited liability corporations registered to Santa Monica developer Howard Jacobs, who is also attempting to sell the old Pioneer Boulangerie site on Main Street.

Besides 125,000 square feet of residential among the three complexes, the Promenade Apartments on 4th Street and the Broadway Apartments in downtown Santa Monica have about 17,000 square feet of ground floor retail, including the Benihana restaurant that was opened on 4th Street in 2001.

Archstone-Smith is buying into a market with some of the highest apartment rents in the county. The average. Santa Monica apartment rented for $2,448 during the first quarter, nearly double the county average, according to RealFacts.

"They'd love to buy more in the area," said Walsh. "But the buildings would need to be 20 to 40 units, so it would be difficult to find opportunities for them."

Staff reporter Danny King can be reached at [phone] ext. 230, or at [e-mail]