The Palace Hotel reconstruction project is expected to be completed in 2012 with the “Palace Hotel Tokyo” scheduled to start accepting hotel guests from May 17, 2012. The new hotel will be 23 stories and will have 290 hotel rooms. The rooms start from 45 sqm in size (484 sqft), which is much larger than the typical Japanese hotel room.

The building will also have a banquet hall that can hold 1500 people, as well as 13 wedding ceremony rooms, 10 restaurants and spa facilities such as the “Evian Spa Tokyo”.  There will also be a gym and swimming pool.

A wedding chapel and function room

The attached office building is expected to be completed by January, 2012. Approximately 30 restaurants will be located in the basement under the two buildings.

The original Palace Hotel was 10 stories and first opened in 1961. In early 2009 it was closed for reconstruction. Concerns were raised that the new high-rise hotel would impact the privacy of the Imperial Family’s private hospital and tennis court located within the palace grounds. The Hotel said they would use a special glazing on the windows above the 10th floor to screen out some of the views of the castle grounds. (A similar effect was used on the windows of the north-facing apartments in Park Court  Akasaka The Tower).

Spa Evian Tokyo

Location:
1-1-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Source: The Yomiuri Shimbun, November 30, 2011.

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