On July 31, Mori Trust announced that they have acquired the historic former Maria-en Catholic nursery school in Nagasaki. Mori will restore the 119-year old building and convert it into an internationally-branded luxury hotel targeting wealthy foreign tourists with an opening scheduled for around 2022. Mori Trust operates 21 hotels across Japan, and this will be their first venture in the Kyushu region. The seller was the Minami Yamate-kai social welfare corporation.

The land is 4,500 sqm and the total building size is 3,300 sqm.

Maria-en is located on a hillside position overlooking Nagasaki Bay. The red-brick building was designed by a French missionary and built in 1898 as a convent and orphanage.

It fronts onto Glover-dori Street, and is just along the street from the former Glover Residence that was built in 1863 for Scottish merchant Thomas Glover. The house and surrounding Glover Garden is the city’s leading tourist destination and attracts over 2 million visitors a year. The Kyushu Shinkansen bullet train is expected to extend to Nagasaki Station by 2022, further improving the city’s tourism potential.

Location

12-17 Minami Yamatemachi, Nagasaki City

Sources:
The Nagasaki Shimbun, August 1, 2017.
The Asahi Shimbun, August 2, 2017.
Mori Trust Press Release, July 31, 2017.

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