The Eighth & Grand residential complex is hard to miss, and not only because of its opulent Whole Foods market on the ground floor.

The development, erected by San Francisco firm Carmel Partners, is the largest single housing project ever to open in Downtown Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Downtown News on Tuesday.

With 700 apartments, it is not just huge in size but in risk as it will be competing with other new housing developments Downtown running from the Arts District to Little Tokyo to South Park. The project was announced almost four years ago, as many developers were still tiptoeing out of the recession.

While some tenants have moved into the development, managed by the firm Greystar, as early as October, there is still ongoing work to finish portions of the building.