Japan’s first privately-developed condominium to be redeveloped
After 61 years, Japan’s first privately-developed condominium - Yotsuya Co-Plus - is going to be redeveloped. On May 30, all apartment owners in the 28-unit building voted in favor of redevelopment. Redevelopment discussions first began back in 2006.
Yotsuya Co-Plus was completed in October 1956. The 5-storey building had apartments ranging from 50 ~ 75 sqm (538 ~ 807 sq ft) in size. 24 of the 28 apartments were two-story maisonette-type units. When new, a 3-bedroom apartment would have sold for 2,330,000 Yen, which was about 20 times the annual salary of a university graduate and more than double the average cost of a detached house at the time. Home loans were also not very common in those days, so the developer offered the apartments for sale under monthly installment plans.
More than half of the apartments are currently owned by either the original owners or their heirs. In the past 30 years there have only been 2 reported resales in the building. Read more
Tokyo apartment sales in May 2017
The following is a selection of apartments that were sold in central Tokyo during the month of May 2017:Read more
Mori Trust acquires historic Hakone hotel
On May 18, Mori Trust announced that they had acquired the historic Gora Kansuirou Hotel in Hakone. The transaction took place in March 2017. The sale price was not disclosed.
The Gora Kansuirou Hotel was built in 1921 as the holiday home for the third son of Yataro Iwasaki, founder of Mitsubishi. The 2-storey wooden villa was built on 7 lots of land purchased in 1916 in the Gora subdivision. A member of the Kan’in-no-miya branch of the Imperial Family fell in love with the area after spending a summer as a guest at the home 1928, and purchased half of the grounds from Iwasaki to build their own villa (now the Gora Kadan Hotel).Read more
Nara prison hotel to open in 2020
The 109-year old former Nara Juvenile Prison in Nara City will be converted into a hotel by 2020. On May 26, Japan’s Ministry of Justice announced that a group of 8 companies, led by Solare Hotels and Resorts, was the successful bidder for the project. A total of 3 groups submitted bids back in January.
The prison was built in 1908 and is the only surviving example of the Five Prisons of the Meiji era. The red brick prison was designed by architect Keijiro Yamashita. Yamashita worked for the Ministry of Justice from 1897 to 1930, and designed many prisons across the country.Read more
New condo for south Omotesando district
Sanyo Homes is developing a luxury low-rise condominium located 550 meters south of Omotesando Station and 160 meters from Kotto-dori ‘Antique’ Street. The property’s address is Shibuya, although it is directly across the street from the Minami Aoyama 5 Chome address.
The new building will replace the 5-storey former Garden Square Minami Aoyama rental-only apartment building (pictured above) which was built in 1989. Many of the low-rise apartment buildings along this street are rental-only and not available for purchase. The average age of a building along this street is 31 years.Read more
Okinawa’s construction costs exceed national average
Construction costs in Okinawa Prefecture now exceed the national average. A shortage in labour and a hotel development boom have pushed construction prices in the prefecture up to levels far exceeding those seen during the bubble economy.
In 2016, the average construction cost was 211,000 Yen per square meter (approx. 175 USD / sq ft), up 10.8% from 2015 and 7.1% higher than the nationwide average of 197,000 Yen/sqm.Read more