Former Arai Mountain & Spa Resort in Niigata sold at second public auction
A Tokyo-based company established just a month ago with capital of 50,000 Yen was the winning bidder for the former Arai Mountain & Spa Resort in Niigata Prefecture. The overgrown hotel was put up for public auction in early June with a minimum bid set at 884 million Yen. Three companies submitted offers, with “Hotel and Resort Joetsu Myoko” making the highest bid of 1.8 billion Yen (14.6 million USD).
The resort closed down in 2006 and was eventually seized by Myoko City for non-payment of taxes. The property includes 200 hectares of land, and 22 buildings including a hotel and restaurant.
According to the company register, the winning bidder was a company established in Minato-ku, Tokyo, on May 1, 2015. The city will make the final decision regarding the sale on June 26, with the buyer to pay the remaining amount on the same day. Stakeholders have objected to the sale and it is possible that the transaction could be delayed.Read more
Historic hotel in Takarazuka to be demolished
Hankyu Hanshin Holdings plan to demolish the historic Takarazuka Hotel in Takarazuka City, Hyogo Prefecture, and will build a new hotel in a separate location nearby.
The 5-storey hotel opened in 1926. It was developed by Ichizo Kobayashi, the founder of Hankyu Railway, the Takarazuka Revue and Toho, and local industrialist Kaemon Hiratsuka. Hankyu acquired the hotel a few years after it opened.Read more
Toranomon fast becoming a hotspot of development
The 2020 Summer Olympics and 2027 opening of the new maglev line have helped to spur along some major construction projects in Tokyo, in particular the Toranomon area.
Since the opening of Toranomon Hills in 2014, the Toranomon area is quickly emerging as Tokyo’s newest hub for international business. It is not just an office area, as nearby hotels, hospitals, and serviced apartments are also in the process of being built. There are also plans for a new station along the Hibiya Line that will connect with Toranomon Hills.
Mori Building is the major player in this district, and plans to invest over a trillion Yen in projects in the Toranomon and Roppongi area over the next 10 years.Read more
Luxury ryokans seeing surge in investment
With expectations of growing demand from travellers and foreign tourists, luxury ryokans (traditional Japanese inns) and hotels across Japan are now a highly sought-after target by funds and major real estate companies. This means foreign investors looking to get into the hotel market in Japan will be facing increasingly tough competition from domestic investors.
This month, real estate giant HULIC will acquire two hotel properties in Hakone and Atami from Kato Pleasure Group. HULIC’s main business is office leasing and management, but with a declining population, they have been expanding their operations to other areas of the property market.Read more
Original Kanaya Hotel re-opened to public viewing
After a careful restoration, the historic Kanaya Samurai House in Nikko was re-opened to the public from March 29th. The property forms a very significant part of Japan’s hotel industry as it was the very first western-style hotel in Japan.
The 2-storey wooden house was built in the 1640s as a samurai residence. In the late 1800s it was the residence of Zenichiro Kanaya. Mr. Kanaya was inspired to open up his home to foreign guests after hosting a foreign friend, James Curtis Hepburn, a Christian missionary who created the Hepburn romanisation system for Japanese. Mr. Hepburn saw the appeal of the Nikko area and the potential for foreign visitors, and suggested that Mr. Kanaya create accommodation catering to foreign tourists.
Mr. Kanaya made some alterations to the home and opened it up to guests as the Kanaya Cottage Inn in 1873. British traveler, writer and historian, Isabella Bird, wrote about her stay at the inn in 1878 in her book ‘Unbeaten Tracks in Japan’, which further helped to promote the area and the hotel.Read more
600 billion Yen project announced for Yaesu
Mitsui Fudosan and Tokyo Tatemono have plans for a 600 billion Yen (5 billion USD) redevelopment on the eastern side of Tokyo Station. Two buildings up to 250 meters tall will be built in the Yaesu 1 and 2 Chome districts. The developers are considering including residential, retail, education, cultural and medical facilities with English-speaking staff in the complex. The Yaesu area currently has a resident population of just 110 people, so residential supply has been very limited.
The redevelopment site is located in a National Strategic Special Zone. These zones have been created to encourage the creation of full-service business districts that are internationally competitive. Developers may receive allowances to provide for extra floor-area ratios and foreign companies may receive additional benefits to locate in these areas.Read more