Karakami Kankoh to close two 1960s hotels in Wakayama
Karakami Kankoh, a Sapporo-based hotel and onsen operator, will close two ageing hotels in Wakayama Prefecture next year.
Hotel Coganoi (103 rooms) and the Shirahama Seaside Hotel (91 rooms) were both built in 1961. Despite having operating ratios of around 70% between April and August this year, the continued operation of the hotels has proven difficult due to their age and the fact that they were built to the old and out-dated earthquake codes. The company had considered retrofitting the buildings, but the 1 billion Yen (8.4 million USD) cost was considered too high. Both hotels will close at the end of March 2016.Read more
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
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
HULIC moves into luxury ryokan business
To capitalise on the growing industry for luxury boutique-style ryokans (traditional Japanese inns), real estate giant HULIC and Kato Pleasure Group (KPG) established KH Resort Management on July 1. The company will engage in the operation of ryokans as well as providing consulting services.
In April 2015, HULIC acquired two hotels from KPG - the Hakone-Suishoen and the Atami Fufu Ryokan - for approximately 4 billion Yen (approx. 33.6 million USD at the time). The newly formed company plan to acquire up to 10 high-end ryokans in hot spring resort areas within 1.5 ~ 2 hours from central Tokyo.Read more
Sumitomo announces 100 billion Yen project for Ariake
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