After nearly three years of slow-paced construction, Irvine-based Sares-Regis Group is finally nearing completion on Wakaba LA, a $100-million development in the heart of Little Tokyo.

The seven-story building, located at the southwest corner of 2nd and San Pedro Streets, is slated to feature 240 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments above approximately 16,000 square feet of ground-level commercial space when it opens later this year.

The project, which was designed by TCA Architects, will also include 470 parking stalls in an underground garage, as well as residential amenities such as a fintess center, a sky deck and a swimming pool.

Wakaba, along with a neighboring development from Avalon Bay, represents the final build out of Little Tokyo's Block 8.  Formerly a six-acre expanse of surface parking, Block 8 will eventually house a total of 788 rental apartments and approximately 50,000 square feet of ground-level retail and restaurant space.

One block west of Wakaba, Vancouver, Washington-based Holland Partner Group is in the midst of construction on a similar wood-frame apartment complex.