The Denver-based REIT calls its new creation Archstone Studio City, which occupies a site at 10979 Bluffside Dr.. Archstone recently completed renovations and improvements at the consolidated complex, adding a leasing facility, a high-tech business center and a fitness facility as well as a new club and billiard room and upgrades to many of the apartment interiors.Along with the consolidation, the REIT is marketing the property under three names: the Colony, 450 units; the Retreat, 276 units; and the Gallery, 101 units. Dan Ogden, Lake Forest-based EVP of operations for Archstone, says the REIT sees a marketing advantage in the options and features that the consolidated complex offers to renters, such as the more than 30 different floor plans, rents ranging from $1,040 to $3,100, its location near major movie studios and other employment centers, the proximity of shopping and restaurants, easy freeway access and nearby attractions that include the L.A. Zoo, Griffith Park, the Hollywood Bowl and Dodger Stadium. The new Archstone Studio City comprises nine mid-rise buildings with studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments and townhomes with lofts ranging in size from 430 sf to 1,320 sf.The consolidation of the three properties is the latest in a number of Archstone-Smith activities in the Los Angeles area multifamily market this year. Earlier this year, the REIT acquired the 623-unit Kingswood Village Marina apartment complex in Marina del Rey for $87 million from Kingswood Village Marina Ltd. R. Scot Sellers, chairman and CEO of Archstone-Smith, said at the time that the buy fit with the company's long-term strategy of owning apartments in "highly desirable neighborhoods with expensive single-family homes and limited land upon which to build new housing."