Tokyo facing office space shortage in prime buildings
Office vacancy rates in central Tokyo’s business districts continue to shrink with Jones Lang Lasalle reporting almost no vacancies in the main office buildings in the Marunouchi district. After reaching a high of 9.43% in mid-2012, vacancy rates in Tokyo’s central five business districts were down to 3.03% last month - a level last seen in April 2008.
It’s not just Marunouchi that is suffering from a dire shortage in available office space, with prime high-rise buildings in Nihonbashi, Shinjuku and Shibuya also seeing demand outstrip supply. Tenant demand is being supported by improved business earnings and company growth, resulting in a need for larger office space to accommodate growing staff numbers.Read more
Construction starts on Aoyama Bell Commons redevelopment
Construction has started on a 20-storey commercial building on the site of the former Aoyama Bell Commons building in the Omotesando / Gaienmae area in Tokyo. Completion is due by April 2020.
The 90m tall Kita Aoyama 2 Chome Project will include retail on the first two floors, a hotel on floors 3, 4 and floors 16 through 20, and office and co-working space on floors 5 through 15. The total floor area will be 22,910 sqm, approximatley 50% larger than Aoyama Bell Commons, while the new building will be almost twice as tall.Read more
Norges Bank acquires 132.5 billion Yen in real estate in Omotesando/Harajuku in JV
Norges Bank Real Estate Management (NBREM), part of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, will acquire a 70% stake in a 132.5 billion Yen (approx. 1.17 billion USD) portfolio of real estate in Tokyo along with partner Tokyu Land. This is NBREM’s first investment in Asia.Read more
Takashimaya pays 442 million USD for two office buildings in Nihonbashi
Takeda Pharmaceutical has sold two of their buildings in downtown Tokyo to the Takashimaya Department Store for a reported price of 49.5 billion Yen (approx. 442 million USD). Delivery of the buildings is scheduled for March 2019. Both properties were owned by Takeda’s real estate division. Takeda will be putting the proceeds from the sale towards their research for new cancer treatments.
The Tokyo Takeda Building and adjoining Takeda Shin Edobashi Building are located a block behind Takashimaya’s Nihonbashi store. The block to the north and east of the historic department store is currently being redeveloped into two high-rise office towers ranging from 140 ~ 176 meters tall and with completion expected in early 2018 and early 2019.Read more
Google Japan office relocation signals return of Shibuya’s Bit Valley
On November 17, Google Japan announced plans to relocate their head office to a new office tower near Shibuya Station in mid-2019.
Google will be taking up floors 14 to 35 in Shibuya Stream - a 35-storey office tower due for completion in late 2018. The 50,000 sqm (538,000 sq ft) of office space will allow them to double their staff numbers from the current level of 1,300. The lower floors of the Shibuya Stream building will be hotel rooms, making Google the sole office tenant.
16-fold rent increase for shopkeepers at Asakusa’s Sensoji temple
Shopkeepers alongside the Nakamise shopping street, a 250 meters long souvenir shop-lined pedestrian mall leading to Sensoji temple in Tokyo, are reeling after being hit with a potential 16-fold increase in store rents. In September, Sensoji temple informed the tenants of plans to increase the rent from the current level of 15,000 Yen per month for a 10 square meter shop to a new rent of 250,000 Yen per month, making it in line with market rents for the neighborhood and ending years of subsidized rents that had been offered by the previous landlord - the Tokyo metropolitan government.