Yomiuri Shimbun Building officially opened
The new headquarters of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper in Otemachi was officially opened on November 28. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave a celebratory address to the 900 guests at the opening ceremony.
The 200m tall 33-storey building has replaced the former 10-storey head office. It is now the tallest building in the Otemachi area and is slightly higher than the 199.7m tall Otemachi Tower which was completed in August.Read more
Handover of new apartments in Wellith Arisugawa begins today
Buyers begin moving into the recently completed Wellith Arisugawa condominium in Minamiazabu today. The luxury low-rise apartment building is located just a few minutes from Hiroo Station and Arisugawa Park and is the only condominium to be built in the exclusive Minamiazabu 5 Chome address in the last eight years.
Sales began in October 2012 and 52 of the 57 apartments have already sold. Prices ranged from 84.8 to 599 million Yen (834,000 ~ 5.9 million USD), with an average price of approximately 1,630,000 Yen/sqm (16,000 USD/sqm).Read more
Osaka demolishes derelict home
Osaka City began the forced demolition of a house in Joto-ku after the owner ignored official requests to repair or remove the dilapidated property.
The 50+ year old 2-storey wooden home is 500 meters east of Kyobashi Station and less than 2 km from Osaka Castle. The roof had collapsed and the house was starting to lean and was at risk of falling over the road and train tracks. The house was declared a hazardous or dangerous structure under the Building Standards Act and the owner was warned eight years ago to take appropriate measures to remedy the building.Read more
Toh-Ten-Koh selling Ueno restaurant building
Toh-Ten-Koh announced that they will be selling their Ueno restaurant building and land to Tokyo Tatemono for 8.914 billion Yen (88 million USD).
Toh-Ten-Koh are currently building a new store on an adjoining block of land they already own and will relocate once the building is complete in 2015. The new store will be on a smaller site of 2,000 sqm, but will be built to the latest earthquake-resistant codes. It is estimated to cost approximately 4.6 billion Yen. Construction began in October.Read more
TEPCO to sell Shinjuku hospital
TEPCO will be selling their Tokyo Denryoku Hospital in Shinjuku-ku to Tokyo Tatemono for an estimated 10 billion Yen (99 million USD). This works out to approximately 1,850,000 Yen/sqm for the land.
Tepco had originally planned to keep the hospital, but at a general shareholders meeting in June 2012, major shareholder and governor of Tokyo Naoki Inose demanded the building and land be sold. Read more