Developer abandons plans to build apartments on former Kyoto hotel site
Hankyu Realty has given up on plans to build apartments on the site of the former Kyoto Kokusai Hotel after facing strong opposition from Kyoto City officials who want to see a new hotel built instead.
The development site is located in a prime position across the street from the east entrance to Nijo Castle in the centre of Kyoto.Read more
Tokyo apartment sales in July 2015
The following is a selection of apartments that were sold in central Tokyo during the month of July 2015:Read more
Kenzo Tange building in Yamanashi to be retrofitted
The 49-year old Yamanashi Cultural Hall building in Kofu City is undergoing earthquake retrofitting which is expected to extend the building’s lifespan for another 50 years.
The 8-storey building was designed by modernist architect Kenzo Tange and competed in 1966. It is said to be one of Tange’s exemplary works and was selected by DOCOMOMO Japan as one of the top 100 modernist buildings in the country. The structure was designed to allow for future extensions, and the original floor area of 18,000 sqm was later expanded to 22,000 sqm.Read more
Otemachi PAL Building demolition to begin in August
As part of the Otemachi 1-2 District Redevelopment, Kajima Corporation will begin demolition of the Otemachi PAL Building next month. The PAL Building, along with the Otemachi 1 Chome Mitsui Building and the Mitsui Bussan Building are all being demolished to make way for two new office towers which are due for completion between 2019 ~ 2021. The owners of the buildings, Mitsui Bussan and Mitsui Fudosan, are expected to contribute around 170 billion Yen (1.37 billion USD) towards the redevelopment.
The Otemachi PAL Building is a 9-storey building with a total floor area of 27,923 sqm. It was built by Takenaka Corporation and completed in 1961. Mitsui Bussan and Mitsui Fudosan acquired the building from consumer credit company Promise in 2011 for 72 billion Yen (approx. 900 million USD at the time). After the sale, Promise leased the office space until they moved into the SMBC Consumer Finance headquarters in Ginza in late 2013.Read more
Political power spot in Chiyoda to be rebuilt
The building that once housed the head office of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is going to be demolished and rebuilt starting next year. In recent years the 58-year old building has become increasingly worn out. The decision to rebuild was made after an inspection in 2014 found that the structure did not meet current earthquake-resistant standards.
A new building design will be selected in September and demolition will begin from April 2016. The new building is expected to be 7-storeys and should be completed sometime in 2018.Read more