Shibuya Parco to be rebuilt

Shibuya Parco Redevelopment 2

The Shibuya Parco Store is going to be redeveloped as part of the Udagawacho 15 District Redevelopment Project.

The new building will be 29 storeys and 110 meters tall. It will contain retail space the first 8 floors, with rental office space on floors 9 and above. Construction will start in March 2017 with completion scheduled for late 2019.Read more


Shibuya Ward Office demolition to start in November

Shibuya Ward Office Redevelopment 1

Demolition of the 51-year old Shibuya Ward Office and Public Hall buildings will start this November.  Discussions to redevelop the government offices began in early 2013 after a building inspection found that the ward office building did not meet minimum earthquake-resistant standards and was at risk of collapse in an earthquake with a shindo level of upper-6.

The Shibuya government office buildings include the 6-storey ward office and the 4-storey Shibuya Public Hall (Shibuya C.C. Lemon Hall). They were completed in 1964, and the Hall hosted the weight-lifting events for the ’64 Summer Olympics.

To help cover the costs of rebuilding, part of the government-owned land will be leased to Mitsui Fudosan Residential under a 70-year fixed term. Mitsui will construct a 143m tall, 39-storey residential tower. At the end of the lease, residents will vacate their apartments, the building will be demolished and the land will be returned to the local government.Read more


Otemachi PAL Building demolition to begin in August

Otemachi PAL Building

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

Hirakawacho Sabo Kaikan Building 1

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


Same-day sellout in 29-storey Yokohama tower

Branz Tower Minato Mirai 1

Tokyu Land Corporation have seen strong demand for a 29-storey condominium tower currently under construction in Yokohama’s Minato Mirai waterfront area.

Branz Tower Minato Mirai's sales office received over 6,000 inquiries before sales started, and all 150 apartments offered for sale in the first round of sales last month received purchase applications on the first day. An average of 2.4 applications were made on each apartment, with the most popular apartment receiving 19 applications. The building is now 75% sold.

Apartments were priced from 45.7 ~ 228.7 million Yen, with an average price of around 1,330,000 Yen/sqm.Read more


Historic Daimaru Shinsaibashi Store Facade to be Preserved

Daimaru Shinsaibashi Osaka

Last year, J. Front Retailing announced plans to redevelop the historic 82-year old Daimaru Shinsaibashi Department Store in Osaka. The ageing building was becoming increasingly cost and difficult to maintain, and was short on floor space.

Original redevelopment plans involved razing the building. After J. Front’s announcement, local architects and historians lobbied the company to preserve as much of the intricately-designed building as possible. Although redevelopment is going ahead next year, J. Front are now considering preserving the historic facade.Read more


Sumitomo announces 100 billion Yen project for Ariake

Ariake Garden City 1

New details have been released regarding Sumitomo’s plans for three high-rise towers in Ariake, Tokyo. Ariake Garden City (Ariake North 3-1 District Plan) is a 100,000 sqm site located just north of Ariake and Kokusaitenjijo Stations on a man-made island in Tokyo Bay.

Sumitomo plan to build apartments (City Towers Tokyo Bay), a hotel, commercial and office facilities. Planning approval is expected to be granted in March 2016, with construction starting on the first phase of the project in October 2016. The entire project is expected to be completed in 2026 and has an estimated project cost of around 102.8 billion Yen (837 million USD), including land acquisition.Read more