1420-unit apartment building for Kachidoki
Construction of a 53-storey high-rise condominium in Kachidoki will officially begin on September 1st. The residential tower will contain 1,420 apartments, making it the second largest apartment building in Japan (based on the total number of apartments in one building).
The Kachidoki 5 Chome Redevelopment project (which has since been named 'Kachidoki The Tower' includes a 179 meter tall Y-shaped residential tower, along with two low-rise buildings. The lower floors will contain local government facilities and retail space. The building is scheduled to be completed in early 2016. The total project cost is 66.4 billion Yen (approximately 680 million USD).Read more
Tokyo apartment resale values
According to Tokyo Kantei senior researcher Toshiro Nakayama, approximately 90% of an apartment's resale value will be determined by its location.
While there are many finer details of what makes a good location, the most important is how close it is to central Tokyo.
Tokyo Kantei have ranked the resale value of apartments in different areas across Tokyo. The area which is most likely to preserve or even increase the value of an apartment in Minato-ku, which is the highest ranked area for resale values in Tokyo.Read more
Large-scale repairs may become a growing problem for new and old apartments
As many as 14 million people live in 6 million apartments across Japan. In Tokyo's central 3 wards, over 50% of the residents live in apartments. Of those 6 million apartments nationwide, 1 million are in buildings over 30 years old. In 10 years from now, a third of all apartments will be over 30 years old.
The main issue facing ageing buildings is maintenance and large-scale repairs. Read more
60-storey apartment building for Nishi-Shinjuku
A new high-rise apartment building is planned for Nishi Shinjuku. At 60-storeys, it will be the tallest apartment building in Japan (based on the number of floors). Construction work is set to begin in January 2014, with completion scheduled for 2017.
The Nishi Shinjuku 5 Chome Centre North District redevelopment site was originally a densely crowded neighbourhood of wooden houses. The area posed a fire and safety hazard and many of the older homes were not earthquake resistant. Of the 92 low-rise buildings to be demolished, 83 (92%) were not fireproof.
Local residents, wanting to redevelop their neighbourhood, banded together in 1997 to form a redevelopment association to hasten the development of the area.Read more
Kyoto to ease building restrictions for narrow blocks
To encourage the redevelopment of ageing buildings located on land with narrow street frontages, Kyoto City will be easing building restrictions.
Many of Kyoto's small lane ways are crowded with wooden buildings that pose a fire hazard. The measures will target approximately 700 buildings built before 1950 in Kamigyo, Nakagyo, Shimogyo and Higashiyama-ku.Read more