POINT LOMA – The tallest building in Point Loma is now a six-story former hotel transformed into 127 apartment units.
The Celeste Point Loma Apartments at 2901 Nimitz Blvd. are in the building that housed the Consulate Hotel, which has been closed since 2019. The conversion is a $23 million project by Ambient Communities and C2 Building Group.
The redevelopment includes retail space on the ground floor, with 22 apartments per floor on stories two through six in the building, located two blocks from the ocean.
Ambient specializes in the planning, development, and construction of new homes, multi-family and mixed-use communities, and commercial real estate projects.
Celeste’s redevelopment is part of a growing trend in San Diego’s building industry to address a critical housing shortage, with companies now turning hotels into apartment complexes in a new housing option intended to offer cost savings for builders and competitive rental rates for occupants.
The hotel-to-apartment conversion is being completed, and developer Ambient Communities is presently showing off Celeste’s new apartment units. Apartments ranging from 300 to 650 square feet will be renting from approximately $2,000 to $3,000 monthly, depending on the unit’s size and location, said Rob Honer, principal at Ambient Communities.
“We started the apartment conversion in February of last year on the second through sixth floors, keeping the same dimensions as the hotel rooms,” he said. “We have a restaurant and lounge on the ground floor, along with 17 additional apartment units.”
Honer said the new apartment configuration in Celeste is a mix of studios and one-bedrooms.
“It’s class A quality, and we spared no expense in what we’ve done,” he said, adding every unit has a washer-dryer, a refrigerator, a microwave, a dishwasher, air conditioning, and other standard kitchen appliances.
Ambient is also seeking to appeal to a wider demographic with Celeste Apartments.
“We’re reaching out to three primary groups,” said Honer. “One is grad students in their 20s and 30s. The other is military, of which there is a lot in Point Loma. The other one, because this is the only building in the area that has an elevator, and we have two, is people in their 50s and 60s.”
Celeste Apartments is pet-friendly, and close to both Point Loma Village and Liberty Station, as well as being not far from OB, benefiting surfers.
“We’ve already signed some leases and people are starting to move in,” said Honer. “Our goal is to have it leased up by the end of the year.”
